Name: Morgan McSweeney resigns as UK PM’s chief of staff following Mandelson scandal | BBC News
Uploaded: 2026-02-08T17:01:46.000Z
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Now some breaking news here in the uk, in the world of politics.

We're getting notification that number 10 has confirmed that Morgan McSweeney has resigned as the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff.

There was a question mark over his position given that he was supportive of the of appointing Lord Mantlesen as the UK ambassador to the United States.

The number 10 now confirming that Morgan McSweeney has quitted.

Well, our political correspondent Billy Kenber is back with us.

And Billy, just a second ago we were talking about his position, whether it was tenable.

Well, it looks like that decision has now been made indeed.

And we've got his, his resignation statement here.

He says that the decision to appoint Peter Mendelssohn was wrong, that he's damaged the Labour Party, our country and trust in politics itself.

He said that when asked, I advise the Prime Minister to make that appointment and I take full responsibility for, for that advice.

He said, in public life, responsibility must be owned when it matters most, not just when it's most convenient.

And he's decided that in the circumstances, the only honorable course is to step aside.

He concludes in this statement, a rather lengthy statement too, with a two further reflections.

One, that it was important to remember the women and girls whose lives were ruined by Jeffrey Epstein and whose voices went unheard for far too long.

The second is that the due diligence and vetting process, which he says he didn't oversee, what did need to be fundamentally overhauled, it was flawed.

And that that cannot simply be a gesture, but a safeguard for the future.

He says he remains fully supportive of the Prime Minister.

So the breaking news that Morgan McSweeney has resigned as Secure Starmer's chief of staff will go down through the timeline of who knew what when, because that's really critical.

Billy, just worth you reminding us the significance of Mor McSweeney because he really masterminded Secure Starmer's path to Downing Street.

He is Keir Starmer's and has been Keir Starmer's closest aide.

He was there when Keir Starmer became leader of the Labour Party in 2020.

He had overseen the reshaping of the Labour Party that that has taken place under Keir Starmer, the selection of candidates, the campaign, the successful general election campaign only 18 months ago, which won that resounding majority and then followed him, of course, into.

Into government, working at the heart of number 10 since he came into power, a hugely significant figure in the Starmer project and in this Labour government and one who today has resigned.

And I guess the question now is, is that enough to get the pressure off, secure Starmer?

Because we've heard the strength of feeling of Labour MPs, will it be enough potentially for him carry on as leader?

Well, historically we've, we have seen Prime Minister's leaders have to sacrifice key aids and it rarely ends happily for the leader themselves.

Only this morning, Pat McFadden was one of.

One of Keir Starmer's close allies in the Cabinet, was asked on, on the Laura Keenzburg program whether whether Morgan McSweeney should go.

He said no, he saw no point in that, that there was no point in McSweeney going if, if Keir Starmer was remaining as Prime Minister.

They are, they are integral to, to this political project, to the government, one intertwined one in one and another.

There were others, of course, who were calling for, for Morgan McSweeney to go.

And that pressure had clearly been building, particularly in the last 24 hours.

David Blunkitt, speaking on the radio this morning, said that he felt the Prime Minister was being poorly advised and that a new Chief of Staff was needed.

And other figures among Labour MPs who weren't outright calling for Starmer to go were pointing fingers at those around him, calling it a boys club in one instance.

And the issue here is that Morgan McSweeney was really supportive of Lord Mandelson's appointment as UK ambassador.

But at that stage we already knew that there was a relationship that had been going on for a while between Lord Mandelson and Jeffrey Epstein and that had been reported by the FTSE and also in the BBC, that those that relationship was known because JP Morgan was looking into it.

No, at its core, this is a controversy, and more than a controversy really about the Prime Minister.

Question marks about the Prime Minister's judgment.

And why did Peter Mandelson get appointed at a time when it was in the public domain that he had continued to have an involvement, a relationship with Jeffrey Epstein after his conviction for underage sex in 2008?

There was a real moment in the last week in the Commons on Wednesday when the Prime Minister admitted at the third time of asking that he had been aware of that ongoing relationship.

But it was already out there, it was out there publicly for those who were paying attention.

And so the questions, the question really was why was the Prime Minister not more curious and was this a calculated risk that they took at the time that they thought Mandelson was an appointment that would work in a particular circumstance of particular politics around the Trump administration and that these, this issue around his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein was a, was a price worth paying.

Now, of course, number 10 would say they absolutely didn't know the depth of the relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and between Jeffrey Epstein and Lord Mandelson.

And what's emerged in the last week, I think has, has clearly legitimately shocked those at the heart of government, those who've known Lord Mandelson for a long time.

The revelations that he passed confidential, potentially confidential information, potentially market sensitive information while he was in government, while he was Business Secretary under Gordon Brown to Jeffrey Epstein, information that it would be potentially possible for someone to make money from, that has clearly caused huge anger.

And also the detail of how frequently they were talking, how, how often and often in a lighthearted and joking manner, we should say.

Of course, the police investigation remains ongoing and Lord Mandelson, we understand, maintains that he has not behaved criminally, in his view.

And it's one of just on, on the appointment, just reminding the audience that Secure Starmer was actually, they wanted a political appointment.

The changing dynamic with the Trump administration.

So they wanted this to be a hard hitting political appointment, but

actually Secure Starmer was keen on George Osborne, the former UK Conservative Chancellor, rather than Lord Mandelson.

There were a number of names in the frame once the decision was made to make a political appointment.

David Miliband was much talked about as well, of course, former Labour MP and brother of Ed Miliband.

We've heard reports, particularly in the last few days, in light of what's now happened and the acknowledgment that this was a huge mistake, that there were members of the cabinet that were advising against appointing Lord Mandelson, among them the former Deputy leader, Angela Rayner.

So there were clearly voices with different views, but

ultimately the decision was made and ultimately the decision is signed off by the Prime Minister.

And so I think the key question now with Morgan McSweeney going is, is, will this be enough to save the Prime Minister?

This is clearly a moment of huge political crisis for the Prime Minister, huge threat to him staying in power, holding on to his job, that pressure does it now go simply because his, his closest aid goes?

This is a really fast moving development.

Just to remind everybody potentially joining us on the BBC News Channel, Morgan McSweeney has resigned as Secure Starmer's Chief of Staff.

He's issued a full statement, a long statement, which is available on our website.

But to abbreviate it, he says that the decision to appoint Lord Mandelson, Peter Mandelson, was wrong.

That decision to appoint him as UK Ambassador to the us.

He says he leaves with pride in all we have achieved, mixed with regret at the circumstances of my departure.

But this is, Billy, really fast moving because just this morning, Pat McFarlane was doing the rounds on the morning political shows.

He told Laura Kuenzberg that removing Morgan McSweeney would cost the UK's economy.

And removing Sir Keir Starmer as Prime Minister, rather, would cost the UK's economy and international reputation.

So he was very much insisting that Sikhistama should stay.

The question now is, with Morgan McSweeney leaving, is that feasible for the Prime Minister, who's been arguably hugely wounded over all of this?

Well, where we stand now is, I think it's really where we stood for a few days now.

There are many Labour MPs, I would say potentially most Labour MPs who believe that it is not a question of if he can survive, but

And the question around the timing rather than whether he will survive.

I think you could see this morning In Pat McFadden's interview, how severe the sense of gravity at how serious a situation this is, his acknowledgment of just how politically damaging the last week has been, his plea, really, to colleagues, to say, as you, as you say there, that he doesn't think it's a good idea to change leader, that he doesn't think the country wants another change in leader, another change in Prime Minister, another situation where prime ministers only last 18 months to two years.

And he said as part of that, that he didn't see any value in a change of staff around Prime Minister, that the Chief of Staff going wouldn't.

Wouldn't change things, wouldn't fix things, and

that in his view, the Prime Minister should be given a chance to get on with the job in hand in implementing his.

Whether that is persuasive for other Labour MPs, well, I think many had already made their minds up and it's unlikely that Morgan McSweeney leaving will change them.

And what is worth just reminding everybody is that when it comes to Morgan McSweeney quitting, now that's been confirmed, number 10 issuing that statement and we've got that long statement from Morgan McSweeney himself.

This is actually the second chief of staff that Starmer has lost because of course, Sue Gray went previously.

So Sue Gray went previous brought in from the Civil Service very controversially before they came in, before Labour came into power with a remit to prepare the party for power and then dispensed with fairly swiftly after arriving.

The suggestion being that the Prime Minister and those around him were not impressed with the, with the preparations that she had made.