British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, quit yesterday, saying he took responsibility for advising Starmer to name Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US despite his known links to Jeffrey Epstein.
After new files revealed the depth of the Labour veteran’s relationship with the late sex offender, Starmer is facing what is widely seen as the gravest crisis of his 18 months in power over his decision to send Mandelson to Washington in 2024.
The loss of McSweeney, 48, a strategist who was instrumental in Starmer’s rise to power, is the latest in a series of setbacks, less than two years after the Labour Party won one of the largest parliamentary majorities in modern British history.
With polls showing Starmer is hugely unpopular with voters after a series of embarrassing U-turns, some in his own party are openly questioning his judgment and his future, and it remains to be seen whether McSweeney’s exit will be enough to silence critics.
The files released in the US on January 30 sparked a police investigation for misconduct in office over indications that Mandelson leaked market-sensitive information to Epstein when he was a government minister during the global financial crisis in 2009 and 2010.
In a statement, McSweeney said: “The decision to appoint Peter Mandelson was wrong. He has damaged our party, our country and trust in politics itself.
“When asked, I advised the Prime Minister to make that appointment and I take full responsibility for that advice.”
The leader of the opposition Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, said the resignation was overdue and that “Starmer has to take responsibility for his own terrible decisions”.
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