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Morgan McSweeney has resigned as chief of staff to Sir Keir Starmer, as the UK prime minister seeks to appease angry Labour MPs and stave off leadership speculation over the fallout of the Lord Peter Mandelson scandal.
The exit of McSweeney, a political protégé of Mandelson, comes after Starmer admitted that he selected the peer as UK ambassador to the US despite knowing of his ongoing relationship with Jeffrey Epstein after the financier was jailed for child prostitution offences.
Downing Street this week announced an official inquiry into Mandelson’s conduct “during his time as a government minister” after emails showed he passed confidential information from the highest levels of the UK government to Epstein while he served in the cabinet in 2009 and 2010.
McSweeney has in recent months become a lightning rod for criticism among Labour MPs, who blame him for strategic mis-steps on policy and communications since Starmer won a landslide election victory in 2024.
Last September, having pushed for Mandelson to be appointed, McSweeney lobbied Starmer not to sack his political mentor as UK envoy to the US, after an earlier cache of emails showed the peer’s proximity to Epstein.
Mandelson once said of McSweeney: “I don’t know who and how and when he was invented, but whoever it was . . . they will find their place in heaven.”
This is a developing story