Amid warnings McSweeney’s survival would leave his position ‘untenable’, PM apologises to Epstein’s victims for appointing Mandelson as US ambassador
Amid warnings McSweeney’s survival would leave his position ‘untenable’, PM apologises to Epstein’s victims for appointing Mandelson as US ambassador
Downing Street has defied calls to remove Keir Starmer’s most senior aide, insisting Morgan McSweeney retains the prime minister’s confidence, as frustration grows over a wait for documents on Peter Mandelson, which some fear could last for weeks.
Amid warnings from Labour backbenchers that McSweeney’s survival would leave Starmer’s position “untenable”, Starmer apologised to victims of Jeffrey Epstein for appointing Mandelson, a close friend of the convicted child sex offender, as US ambassador.
A day after a chaotic Commons deal to release vetting papers over Mandelson’s appointment left many Labour MPs mutinous, there was still fury about the role of McSweeney, the PM’s chief of staff.
One Labour MP said: “People want [McSweeney] to go, more than ever before. The current situation is unsustainable.”
Karl Turner, the Hull East MP and a vocal critic of the current No 10 operation, said McSweeney staying would leave the prime minister’s position “untenable”. “I don’t want the PM to go. What I want is the PM to make changes,” he told the BBC.
Downing Street officials pointed to Starmer’s strong defence of McSweeney in the Commons on Wednesday, in which he said nothing had changed. Supporters of the PM are aware that shedding his chief of staff could leave Starmer more directly in the firing line in a future crisis.
Amid continued speculation about a possible leadership challenge, Starmer sought to regain the initiative with a speech and media Q&A in Hastings, ostensibly about community values but which was dominated by the Mandelson aftermath.
Starmer said he understood the frustration of his MPs, and called on them to rally round the government.
