Starmer ‘knew ex-comms chief Lord Doyle supported paedophile councillor’
Sir Keir Starmer nominated a former aide for the peerage despite reportedly “supporting” a councilor accused of child sex offenses, the former communications chief has claimed.
The Prime Minister faces persistent questions over his decision to appoint former spin doctor Matthew Doyle to the House of Lords, who campaigned for a councilor accused of possessing indecent images of children.
The Prime Minister said on Wednesday that Lord Doyle, who has now apologized and has been stripped of the Labor whip, did not give “a full explanation of his actions” when he was given the rank and failed to disclose that he had campaigned for Sean Morton in 2017.
But Tim Allan, who left his role as No 10’s head of communications this week, said Lord Doyle had confirmed he believed Morton before he was sentenced and had been “supportive” throughout.
Mr Allan said that while at Downing Street he was asked by Sir Keir’s former chief of staff Morgan McSweeney to speak to his peer about Lord Doyle’s relationship with Morton.
“I conveyed accurately to the Prime Minister what Doyle told me,” Mr Allan told the Press Association.
“The Prime Minister is right to say that Doyle did not tell me about his campaigns in the council election for Morton.
“However, Doyle told me that he believed Morton’s pleas of innocence before his conviction and supported him throughout this time.”
Sir Keir has faced calls to resign amid fallout from the Peter Mandelson and Lord Doyle scandal, accusing him of a “catastrophic lack of judgment” over both appointments.
During Prime Minister’s Questions, Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch accused Sir Keir of knowing about the former spin doctor’s relationship with Moray councilor Morton when Lord Doyle took his seat in the upper house.
The Labor leader responded: “Matthew Doyle has not given a full accounting of his actions. “On Monday I promised my party and my country that there would be change.
“And yesterday I took the whip off Matthew Doyle.”
Lord Doyle’s ongoing relationship with the Moray councilor after he was impeached was first reported by The Sunday Times last December, after his peerage was announced but before he took his seat in the upper house in January.
No 10 insisted there was no precedent for the peerage being suspended once declared, but a House of Lords spokesman said: “We cannot comment on specific confidential advice given by Parliamentary Officials. However, our understanding is that, under the Life Assistants Act 1958, a peerage is created when letters patent are sealed.”
Downing Street refused to commit to stripping the former aide of his honor, arguing it could undermine Labour’s investigation into the appointment.
The prime minister, who has sought to put aside speculation about his future in Downing Street, is expected to press ahead with efforts to shake up the No 10 operation, with the country’s top civil servant, Sir Chris Wormald, believed to be leaving in the near future.
Rumors are circulating in Westminster that Sir Keir plans to replace Sir Chris with Dame Antonia Romeo, a civil servant who also worked at the Foreign Office during Lord McDonald’s tenure.
