Morgan McSweeney, the highly-influential No.10 chief of staff who advised the PM to give Mandelson the plum diplomatic role, paid with his job on Sunday afternoon. “Keir has just lost his political brain,” observed one MP. Few inside the Labour Party do not believe that Starmer himself will be next through the exit door. Starmer will tell the PLP he is “beyond angry” with Mandelson and pledge to introduce a range of reforms to clean up politics in light of the scandal. “Maybe he can use this as a reset moment but things will have to get better much, much quicker,” a minister told HuffPost UK.

Source: Huffington Post February 09, 2026 09:05 UTC