Downing Street was in meltdown on Monday as Keir Starmer lurched into a fresh crisis.
On another disastrous day for Labour, he struggled to explain why he kept backing Peter Mandelson, even while officials were urgently investigating new information about the US ambassador's links to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
In a further body blow – as exclusively revealed by Daily Mail columnist Dan Hodges – the Prime Minister's director of strategy was forced to quit over crude messages about Labour veteran Diane Abbott.
The latest departure of another key ally came just two weeks after Sir Keir launched 'Phase Two' of his government in a bid to put his dismal first year in office behind him.
Paul Ovenden's resignation – after the departures of Lord Mandelson and Angela Rayner – means that the PM has now lost three senior figures in controversial circumstances since the relaunch this month.
