British PM Keir Starmer’s Chief of Staff resigns over envoy linked to Epstein

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Chief of Staff, Morgan McSweeney resigned on Sunday (February 8, 2026), taking “full responsibility” for advising Mr. Starmer to appoint Peter Mandelson as Britain’s envoy to Washington. Mr. Mandelson was sacked in September after the extent of his links to sex-offender Jeffrey Epstein became publicly known. A tranche of Epstein-related documents released on January 30, revealed further details of the association between Epstein and Mr. Mandelson. Mr. Mandelson has denied wrongdoing.

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“The decision to appoint Peter Mandelson was wrong. He has damaged our party, our country and trust in politics itself,” Mr. McSweeney wrote. However, he also said that he did not oversee the due diligence process, as he called for that process to be overhauled.

The Mandelson-scandal had led to calls from Mr Starmer’s opponents for the Prime Minister to resign. This comes when Mr Starmer is faring poorly in opinion polls with pressure from MPs in his own party to step down, despite leading the Labour Party in a landslide general election victory in July 2024. Mr McSweeney was a key associate of Mr Starmer, and it is as yet unclear how his resignation will impact Mr Starmer’s ability to continue in office.

 Following the document-release on January 30, the Metropolitan Police launched a criminal investigation against Mr Mandelson for misconduct, related to the alleged sharing of market-sensitive documents in 2009 and 2010.

Leader of the Opposition and Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, said Mr Starmer had to take responsibility for “his own terrible decisions”.

Mr Starmer had apologized last week to Mr Epstein’s victims for believing Mr Mandelson’s “lies”, saying “ the depths and darkness” of Mr Mandelson’s relationship with Mr Epstein were not known to him.