British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, in St Leonards, England, on February 5, 2026. PETER NICHOLLS/REUTERS
The pressure had grown too strong: Morgan McSweeney, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's chief of staff, who was widely seen as the architect of Starmer's victory in the July 2024 general election, announced his resignation when speaking to the BBC on Sunday, February 8. In resigning, McSweeney, an Irish member of the Labour Party, accepted responsibility for his actions. He had once been a protégé of Peter Mandelson, a former minister and European commissioner who fell from grace over his long-standing friendship with American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. McSweeney had, at the end of 2024, successfully pushed to have Mandelson appointed as the United Kingdom's ambassador to the United States, despite opposition from the Foreign Office and several members of Starmer's cabinet.
Mandelson only lasted six months in Washington: Starmer abruptly dismissed him in September 2025, after the US Department of Justice released an initial wave of files pertaining to the Epstein case, which showed that Mandelson had had a much closer relationship with the billionaire than he had previously admitted. "I advised the prime minister to make that appointment and I take full responsibility for that advice," McSweeney said, in a statement sent to the BBC. He also acknowledged that the decision "was wrong," as it "damaged our party, our country and trust in politics itself."
