Starmer urged to sack his No 10 chief. Insiders fear he would go ‘full Cummings’ ...Middle East

Allies of Morgan McSweeney, No 10’s chief of staff, said he was determined not to quit, even as Labour MPs continued to call for Sir Keir Starmer to fire him.

Starmer was in a stand-off with his party this weekend as MPs continued to call for him to oust his most senior adviser amid the fallout from the Lord Mandelson scandal.

Labour MPs demanded Starmer dismiss McSweeney, whom they blame for Mandelson’s appointment as UK ambassador to US despite the peer’s links to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

But one Labour source said: “There is some concern that he will only be ripped out by his fingernails. If forced out he will take down the house, go full [Dominic] Cummings.” Boris Johnson’s ex-chief adviser became a vocal critic of his former boss after he left No 10.

Backbencher Simon Opher, MP for Stroud, told The i Paper: “I cannot see how those who advised him [Starmer] that Mandelson was a suitable candidate can remain in post. Their continued presence is untenable and they should resign immediately.

“We were elected to deliver a manifesto that promised change. I fear that the way that No 10 operates is making that job harder and there needs to be a complete overhaul at the top of Government. The current team is toxic and failing everyone – not least by choosing to ignore the obscenity of lauding a man they knew was a close friend of a convicted sex offender.”

Others calling for McSweeney’s departure include veteran MP Clive Efford and Southport’s Patrick Hurley, who suggested another job should be found for him running the party’s campaigns rather than the Government.

Allies of McSweeney said he was unlikely to quit.

“Whether you think he’s made a misjudgement or mistake on this or not, he still is the exceptional political thinker, and it would be bad for the party and for the Government if he went. He’s a really tough character and I’ve never got a sense of him that he’s about to walk away from it,” one said.

According to a second ally, Starmer has said he wants his chief of staff to stay in post.

The source added that they expected the Mandelson vetting files to show “lots of unsolicited and very spicy advice from Mandelson, and very little response in writing from Morgan”.

In a further sign that McSweeney was not intending to quit, the Irishman was leading meetings on the Government’s plans as the outrage over the Mandelson-Epstein links reached fever pitch on Wednesday.

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A parliamentary private secretary told The i Paper McSweeney was still pressing ahead despite the anger: “Morgan had all the PPSs [parliamentary private secretaries] in No 10 on Wednesday and told us that the Government needed time to show it is delivering.”

Dozens of MPs – including 22 from Labour – backed a call from Labour MP Nadia Whittome for a full public inquiry into links between Epstein and figures in the British establishment.

Former Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman said the Prime Minister had looked “weak, naive and gullible” after he apologised for having put Mandelson into such a high-profile and sensitive role.

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