Morgan McSweeney, No 10’s chief of staff, could be the “sacrificial lamb” to allow Sir Keir Starmer to stay on in Downing Street following May’s expected dismal election results, Labour MPs and party sources warned.
McSweeney was under renewed fire on Monday after Peter Mandelson resigned from the Labour Party because the advisor was seen as key to the former US ambassador’s appointment to Washington despite the well-known risks.
Labour is on course for local council losses to Reform UK, the Greens, the Liberal Democrats and, in east London, pro-Gaza Independent candidates. While last year, Labour had been expecting to supplant the SNP and return to power at Holyrood in 2026 that is now in doubt and in Wales, Labour could be beaten in Senedd elections by Plaid Cymru or Reform.
“No one is going to move against Keir before May, but after that he will need a sacrificial lamb to save his premiership,” a Government source told The i Paper.
“I just feel like a high-profile person’s got to go, maybe Rachel [Reeves] or maybe Morgan, because it’s either the PM, or somebody close to him. Rachel is in a better position than she was because people [Labour MPs] liked the budget.”
Reeves is also unlikely to be let go by Starmer because their political fortunes are entangled and because she is seen as a bulwark against the bond markets. Even suggestions Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham could return to Parliament with a higher-borrowing agenda was enough to spook investors.
“This idea has been floating around for a while that Keir will have to get rid of someone after May. Ideally, he’d have a reshuffle, but he probably won’t have the authority to do that,” another Government source said.
“The Mandelson stuff over the weekend has brought this idea up again because obviously Morgan was the main person pushing for his appointment.”
They added: “This whole saga will feed into that sense that the right of the party has been wrong all along.”
A young McSweeney had an early work placement at Labour HQ in Millbank Tower monitoring press coverage to rebut Conservative attacks, answering to Mandelson. His former boss became a mentor and the two remained politically close. Last June, Mandelson was a guest speaker at a fundraiser for Labour MP Imogen Walker, McSweeney’s wife.
However, there was pushback from other Labour supporters of McSweeney. “He’s good and he’s decisive; of course he will stay,” a third Government source said. A Labour MP remarked: “Keir would be nuts to get rid of him, he’s keeping the No 10 show on the road.”
Downing Street declined to comment on McSweeney’s future.
Earlier, No 10 said Starmer believes Mandelson should no longer sit in Parliament but does not have the power to strip him of his peerage.
On Monday, Stamer’s spokesman said the Prime Minister believed the former ambassador to the US “should not be a member of the House of Lords or use the title.”
The Lords were urged to work with the Government to modernise disciplinary procedures to make it easier to remove disgraced peers.
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Under the current arrangements, a new law would be required to remove a peerage, something that last happened more than 100 years ago to deal with members of the nobility who shared British and German heritage, but who sided with the Kaiser in the First World War.
Ministers are also aware any bill could be amended to abolish the House of Lords in one fell swoop.
Downing Street said the Prime Minister has also asked the UK’s most senior civil servant, Cabinet Secretary Sir Chris Wormald to review “all available information regarding Peter Mandelson’s contacts with Jeffrey Epstein during his period as a Government minister”.
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