Labour MP calls for a ‘clearout’ of advisers in Downing Street amid Mandelson scandal – UK politics live | Politics
Keir Starmer needs a ‘cleansing’ of advisers in No 10, Labor MP says
Hello and welcome to Friday’s edition of our UK politics blog.
To start, I want to take you back to July 2024, to an era that feels like another era.
Keir Starmer‘s message to the British people during the last election cycle was simple: Labor were the adults in Parliament and the only party that could be trusted to govern the country.
The campaign can be summed up in one dogged phrase: “Only a Labor government can break the cycle and stop the chaos.”
And yet the prime minister once again faces his worst week in office. Anger continued to grow over the party’s failure to maintain its message. Labor MPs feel this latest incident is a problem of his own making, given that he chose to appoint the so-called “Prince of Darkness”. Peter Mandelson As US ambassador.
But lawmakers are divided on how to proceed. So far No 10 has called for Starmer’s chief of staff to be sacked Morgan McSweeneyHe is the one pushing for Mandelson to be appointed in 2024.
But this will not stop the anger. Labor MP speaking on the Today programme. Simon Opher He said advisers at No 10 needed to be “cleaned up” and a special call should be made for McSweeney to leave.
“There’s a lot of anger among Labor MPs because we really want, I mean yesterday, to talk about the cancer care plan, not about Peter Mandelson,” he said.
“I think what we need to do, I think what really needs to happen, what we need to do is Keir Starmer needs to change his advisers in No 10, I think he was given bad advice and he is really disappointed with that decision in particular.
Asked if that meant McSweeney had to go, he said: “I think yes.”
“If my chief of staff had done that, I honestly think he would have looked for another job.”
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Labor MP says McSweeney remaining would leave prime minister’s position ‘untenable’
Peter Walker
Downing Street rejects calls for abolition Keir Starmer‘s most senior aide insists Morgan McSweeney Prime Minister maintains confidence as frustration grows over wait for documents Peter MandelsonSome fears can last for weeks.
Starmer apologized to the victims of the attack, as Labor supporters warned that McSweeney’s survival would leave Starmer’s position “untenable”. jeffrey epstein For appointing Mandelson, a close friend of the convicted child sex offender, as U.S. ambassador.
A day after a chaotic Commons agreement to publish review papers into Mandelson’s appointment left many Labor MPs rebellious, there was still anger over the role of the Prime Minister’s private secretary, McSweeney.
One Labor MP said: “People want [McSweeney] go, more than ever. “The current situation is unsustainable.”
Karl TurnerThe Hull East MP and vocal critic of the current No 10 operation said McSweeney remaining would leave the prime minister’s position “untenable”. “I don’t want the Prime Minister to leave. What I want is for the Prime Minister to make changes,” he told the BBC.
Downing Street officials noted Starmer’s strong defense of McSweeney in the House of Commons on Wednesday, and Starmer said nothing had changed in that. The prime minister’s supporters are aware that sacking the chief of staff could leave Starmer directly in the line of fire in a future crisis.
Read the full story: No 10 opposes calls to sack Morgan McSweeney over Mandelson appointment
Keir Starmer needs a ‘cleansing’ of advisers in No 10, Labor MP says
Hello and welcome to Friday’s edition of our UK politics blog.
To start, I want to take you back to July 2024, to an era that feels like another era.
Keir Starmer‘s message to the British people during the last election cycle was simple: Labor were the adults in Parliament and the only party that could be trusted to govern the country.
The campaign can be summed up in one dogged phrase: “Only a Labor government can break the cycle and stop the chaos.”
But once again the prime minister faced his worst week in office. Anger continued to grow over the party’s failure to maintain its message. Labor MPs feel this latest incident is a problem of his own making, given that he chose to appoint the so-called “Prince of Darkness”. Peter Mandelson As US ambassador.
But lawmakers are divided on how to proceed. So far No 10 has called for Starmer’s chief of staff to be sacked Morgan McSweeneyHe is the one pushing for Mandelson to be appointed in 2024.
But this will not stop the anger. Labor MP speaking on the Today programme. Simon Opher He said advisers at No 10 needed to be “cleaned up” and a special call should be made for McSweeney to leave.
“There’s a lot of anger among Labor MPs because we really want, I mean yesterday, to talk about the cancer care plan, not about Peter Mandelson,” he said.
“I think what we need to do, I think what really needs to happen, what we need to do is Keir Starmer needs to change his advisers in No 10, I think he was given bad advice and he is really disappointed with that decision in particular.
Asked if that meant McSweeney had to go, he said: “I think yes.”
“If my chief of staff had done that, I honestly think he would have looked for another job.”
