Furious female Labour MPs urge Starmer to make a woman his de facto deputy | Labour

Furious Labor MPs have told Keir Starmer to appoint a woman as his de facto deputy to oversee a “complete culture change” at Downing Street following a series of scandals that exposed the No 10 “boys’ club”.

Harriet Harman, one of the party’s most senior figures, has called on Starmer to revive the role of first foreign secretary previously occupied by Peter Mandelson under Gordon Brown. But she insisted that this role must be taken on by a woman to “transform the political culture around women and girls in government.”

Starmer faces a packed meeting of the parliamentary Labor Party on Wednesday after heated questions from the prime minister; During that meeting, he faced repeated questions about Mandelson and former communications chief Matthew Doyle. It emerged that Doyle was campaigning on behalf of his friend, who was accused of possessing indecent images of children at the time.

Harman told Starmer to appoint a woman as foreign minister and make her the most senior cabinet member after the prime minister and his de facto deputy. He said it would be “really powerful” for a woman to be cast in the role.

“We need a complete culture change and I think everyone recognizes that,” Harman told the Guardian. “But it is easier to say let’s change the culture than to do it.” He said his role as first secretary would “accelerate” the government’s commitment to halve violence against women and girls over the next decade. “It will deal with cultural change, but it will also hold each government department accountable for its work on women and strengthen the work on women in each of those departments.”

The effects of the Mandelson scandal, exacerbated by the revelations about Doyle, have sparked genuine anger within Labor ranks, and particularly among female MPs. Local government minister Alison McGovern said: “What those of us in the progressive wing of the Labor Party are feeling right now is a great deal of anger and grief.” wrote on a blog. “It is our culture that does not hear women properly, which is why Peter Mandelson’s power lasted so long.”

Despite this, or perhaps because of it, there has been a growing Amazon guard around Starmer since his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney resigned on Sunday. McSweeney, who said he recommended Starmer to appoint Mandelson as US ambassador, was replaced by chiefs of staff Vidhya Alakeson and Jill Cuthbertson, who were promoted to chiefs of staff this week.

The post of communications director, vacated by Tim Allan on Monday, has been filled for now by Sophie Nazemi, one of the few doyens of the Corbyn era who managed to gain Starmer’s trust. Another notable name linked to the role is former communications director Stephanie Driver, who resigned after Allan was promoted above her last fall. The reputation of No 10’s political director, Amy Richards, has also been strengthened and she is widely seen as playing a key role in improving Starmer’s relationship with his party.

But MPs urged Starmer to go further at Wednesday’s PLP meeting. Bolsover MP Natalie Fleet, who became pregnant after being groomed and raped as a teenager, asked the prime minister to launch a national investigation into the crimes of former Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed, saying his victims had written to number 10 but received no response.

He asked Stamer to meet him and the victims. “These are our victims, this is our Epstein,” he said, adding that British police officers took bribes and doctors checked whether the victims were virgins.

“As a survivor, I know no one cares,” she said. “Literally no one cares. You’ve got to seize the moment right now, people all over the country are saying they care. OK, great, let’s do something about it.”

Fleet said Starmer still had his full support but needed to show he was listening to the concerns of women, including those in his own party. “I truly believe Starmer is the best person we have when it comes to tackling violence against women and girls,” she said.

“If I could choose a prime minister from within the country, I would choose someone with a track record like his. It feels so ironic that he has been dragged down to this level by this drama because he really cares. That’s why we need him to do more. We need him to deliver. We need actions, not words.”