Starmer battling for survival after his chief of staff resigns | Polit

Sir Keir Starmer is fighting for his political survival as calls for him to step down grow, after the resignation of his top aide over the Peter Mandelson scandal.

The embattled prime minister is expected to face the Parliamentary Labour Party today amid anger over his appointment of Lord Mandelson as ambassador to the US, despite knowing that his links with Jeffrey Epstein continued after the financier’s conviction for child sex offences.

It comes after chief of staff Morgan McSweeney announced he would step down on Sunday amid the fallout from the Mandelson row.

Mr McSweeney said the decision to appoint Lord Mandelson to the role “was wrong”, before saying, “I advised the prime minister to make that appointment and I take full responsibility for that advice”.

Downing Street ‘reeling’

Sky’s political editor Beth Rigby said that, according to two Downing Street senior sources, Mr McSweeney was initially “in two minds” about stepping down.

“As early as this morning [Sunday], he wasn’t planning to resign, necessarily,” she said, adding that the sources also told her the gravity of the situation made it clear that his resignation was “inevitable”.

A third source also told Rigby that he and the prime minister decided it was the right moment to move on in “a mutual understanding”.

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But despite the resignation, Rigby said Number 10 is “reeling” as the scandal “rips through the heart” of the Labour government.

She added that the indication within Downing Street is Sir Keir will “press on” and not step down over the affair.

Read more from Beth Rigby: When the No 10 operation goes into freefall, it’s nearly impossible to stabilise

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One Labour MP, speaking anonymously to…