Sir Keir Starmer was back on the political rack on Wednesday over his decision to appoint a “paedophile apologist” to the House of Lords, with claims that he waited weeks before taking action on the issue.
Starmer appeared rattled in the House of Commons as opponents tore into his decision to give a peerage to Lord Matthew Doyle, his former media chief, in spite of evidence of his association with a paedophile councillor.
Starmer claimed that Doyle “did not give a full account of his actions” when the appointment was made and said that he had taken action this week to suspend the peer from the Labour whip.
But the affair, which has been rumbling for weeks, has been seized upon by Starmer’s critics in the wake of the scandal involving Lord Peter Mandelson and his links to the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Starmer had claimed that Mandelson “lied” about his links to Epstein before he became UK ambassador to the US, leading to claims that Starmer was either gullible or culpable in the way he handled public appointments.
The prime minister again apologised for his handling of the Mandelson affair to Labour women MPs, some of whom were especially critical of Starmer over his response to the Epstein files and for relying heavily on male advisers.
Dame Harriet Harman, former acting Labour leader, called for a cabinet-level minister to be appointed to tackle long-standing misogyny under various administrations and “transform the political culture in government around women and girls”.
The prime minister survived a leadership coup this week and saw Labour MPs rally behind him, but the allegations regarding Doyle’s appointment were greeted by uncomfortable silence on the benches behind him.
During a heated Prime Minister’s Questions, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch accused Starmer of always putting “the Downing Street boys’ club first” and of “stuffing government with hypocrites and paedophile apologists”.
Stephen Flynn, Westminster leader of the Scottish National Party, said Starmer must be “the most gullible former director of public prosecutions in history”.
Meanwhile, Sir Ed Davey, Liberal Democrat leader, said: “To appoint one paedophile supporter cannot be excused as a misfortune. To appoint two shows a catastrophic lack of judgment.”
Starmer, who had hoped to end his final Commons appearance before a half-term break on a high, snapped at Davey’s comment, railing against him for being part of a coalition government that inflicted “austerity” on Britain.
On Tuesday, Starmer stripped the Labour whip from his former communications chief over his decision to campaign for the councillor who was charged with, and later admitted to, having indecent images of children.
Doyle campaigned for Scottish Labour councillor Sean Morton ahead of local elections in 2017 despite Morton having been charged over indecent images of children.
Doyle said he had believed Morton’s claim to have been innocent, but Morton admitted later that year to having the images and was added to the sex offenders register.
Doyle was offered a peerage by Starmer in early December last year and on December 27 the Sunday Times newspaper reported details of Doyle’s relationship with Morton. Number 10 said it had “thoroughly investigated” the matter and was confident that there were no issues.
It was not until January 8 that “letters patent” were signed confirming Doyle’s peerage and on January 12 he was introduced to the chamber.
Asked why Starmer had not made further inquiries before Doyle was formally confirmed as a peer, Number 10 claimed there was “no precedent” for blocking a peerage once a nomination had been made. However, Starmer’s spokesperson did not claim that such a move was impossible.
Instead the spokesperson insisted that the decision this week to strip Doyle of the whip was part of a promise by the prime minister to Labour MPs to make a fresh start.
“He made it clear he wants to make changes and asked for this to be looked at again,” the spokesperson said, while declining to say why it had taken the prime minister so long.
The affair is damaging for Starmer after a torrid few days, which saw him survive a possible leadership coup after Anas Sarwar, Scottish Labour leader, called for the prime minister to quit.
Starmer survived the week with his position strengthened — cabinet members and MPs signalled their strong support — but the Doyle affair will further sap morale in the party.
Doyle, a former aide to Tony Blair, is the latest member of the “New Labour” coterie in Starmer’s circle to be cast aside by the prime minister, fuelling hopes among some Labour MPs of a political shift to the left.
Starmer’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, who played a key role in advising the prime minister to appoint Mandelson, resigned on Sunday.
Tim Allan, another ally of Mandelson and Blair, quit as Starmer’s latest communications director on Monday. Baroness Liz Lloyd, Blair’s former deputy chief of staff, left Starmer’s Number 10 last year after only a short spell in the job.
“I keep hearing we are going to shift to the left — let’s see,” said one cabinet minister. Rachel Reeves, chancellor, is adamant that fiscal discipline must underpin all of the government’s policies.
Asked whether he was concerned that his legacy would be his bad judgment in appointing Mandelson and Doyle, Starmer said: “My legacy is changing my party and winning a general election.”
He did not mention anything his government had done to improve the country since taking power, and for Starmer the prospect of a half-term break from Westminster could not come quickly enough.