Starmer battling for survival after his chief of staff resigns

https://news.sky.com/story/starmer-battling-for-survival-after-his-chief-of-staff-resigns-13505133

Sir Keir Starmer will face the Parliamentary Labour Party today after his chief aide resigned. Sky's Beth Rigby says that while the move "might buy him some time", she adds "it's a sign of the crisis, not a solution".

9 February 2026 

Sky News

Sir Keir Starmer is fighting for his political survival as calls for him to step down grow, after the resignation of his top aide over the Peter Mandelson scandal.

The embattled prime minister is expected to face the Parliamentary Labour Party today amid anger over his appointment of Lord Mandelson as ambassador to the US, despite knowing that his links with Jeffrey Epstein continued after the financier's conviction for child sex offences.

It comes after chief of staff Morgan McSweeney announced he would step down on Sunday amid the fallout from the Mandelson row.

Mr McSweeney said the decision to appoint Lord Mandelson to the role "was wrong", before saying, "I advised the prime minister to make that appointment and I take full responsibility for that advice".

Downing Street 'reeling'

Sky's political editor Beth Rigby said that, according to two Downing Street senior sources, Mr McSweeney was initially "in two minds" about stepping down.

"As early as this morning [Sunday], he wasn't planning to resign, necessarily," she said, adding that the sources also told her the gravity of the situation made it clear that his resignation was "inevitable".A third source also told Rigby that he and the prime minister decided it was the right moment to move on in "a mutual understanding".

Read more:
Lonely Starmer looks like he doesn't know his own mind
Who is the prime minister's departed chief of staff?

But despite the resignation, Rigby said Number 10 is "reeling" as the scandal "rips through the heart" of the Labour government.

She added that the indication within Downing Street is Sir Keir will "press on" and not step down over the affair.

Read more from Beth Rigby: When the No 10 operation goes into freefall, it's nearly impossible to stabilise

Starmer 'mortally wounded'

One Labour MP, speaking anonymously to Sky political reporter Faye Brown, offered scathing criticism of the departing aide, saying that they "won't be shedding a tear that he's gone".

"He's the very worst of our party," they added. "Every decision he's taken is to bolster himself and wage a war of factionalism.

"The PM should have sacked him just as he should have with Mandelson. The buck ultimately stops with the PM."

The MP then said that Mr McSweeney's resignation might not save Sir Keir's premiership, adding: "All this has done has bought him a little more time, but he's mortally wounded and it's not if, it's when he goes."