Keir Starmer has vowed to fight on as prime minister following the resignations of two top aides.
Morgan McSweeney, one of the prime minister’s longest-serving and closest lieutenants, resigned as Downing Street chief of staff on Sunday. In a statement, McSweeney said he took “full responsibility” after personally advising Starmer to appoint Peter Mandelson as British ambassador to the United States.
The outgoing No 10 chief of staff said the decision to appoint Mandelson was “wrong” and had “damaged our party, our country and trust in politics itself.”
McSweeney stated: “When asked, I advised the prime minister to make that appointment and I take full responsibility for that advice. In public life responsibility must be owned when it matters most, not just when it is most convenient.
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“In the circumstances, the only honourable course is to step aside.”
McSweeney said he remained “fully supportive of the prime minister”. His former deputies Jill Cuthbertson and Vidhya Alakeson have stepped up as acting chiefs of staff.
On Monday morning, Tim Allan resigned as the prime minister’s director of communications, having only spent five months in the role.
In a statement, Allan said: “I have decided to stand down to allow a new No 10 team to be built. I wish the PM and his team every success.”
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Starmer has since addressed staff at No 10 Downing Street, declaring that his government is united by a “driving purpose” of “public duty”.
Reflecting on the revelations surrounding Mandelson, which precipitated the present crisis, Starmer said that the scandal risked undermining “the belief that politics can be a force for good and can change lives.”
He added: “I have been absolutely clear that I regret the decision that I made to appoint Peter Mandelson. And I’ve apologised to the victims which is the right thing to do.”
Starmer also paid tribute to McSweeney, whom he referred to as a “colleague and a friend”.
The prime minister said: “We have run up and down every political football pitch that is across the country. We’ve been in every battle that we needed to be in together. Fighting that battle.
“We changed the Labour Party together. We won a general election together. And none of that would have been possible without Morgan McSweeney.
“His dedication, his commitment and his loyalty to our party and our country was second to none. And I want to thank him for his service.”
Starmer pointed to the work of his government around tackling the cost of living and cutting NHS waiting lists.
He continued: “In just a few months, we start the work of lifting half a million children out of poverty. A massive thing to do in this country because that means that lives will be changed.
“For decades to come, children who otherwise wouldn’t have fair chance and fair opportunity. Poverty holds children back like nothing else on earth. And so getting rid of child poverty opens up opportunities for so many.”
The prime minister concluded: “We must prove that politics can be a force for good. I believe it can. I believe it is. We go forward from here. We go with confidence as we continue changing the country.”
Josh Self is editor of Politics.co.uk, follow him on Bluesky here and X here.
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