Starmer’s chief of staff quits as Mandelson-Epstein scandal threatens premiership
Morgan McSweeney takes ‘full responsibility’ for advising to name Peter Mandelson as US ambassador despite known ties to Jeffrey Epstein
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, quit on Sunday, 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 was hugely unpopular with voters after a series of embarrassing U-turns, some in his own party were openly questioning his judgment and his future, and it remains to be seen whether McSweeney’s exit would 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.