Morgan McSweeney quits as Keir Starmer's chief of staff following Mandelson scandal | ITV News

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Morgan McSweeney has quit as the prime minister’s chief of staff, saying he takes "full responsibility" for advising Sir Keir Starmer to appoint Lord Mandelson as US ambassador. Starmer's right-hand man had faced intensifying calls from within the Labour Party to go after being blamed by many for pushing the appointment of Lord Mandelson. Mandelson was sacked as the Prime Minister's top diplomat in Washington last year over his relationship with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. Since then, he has resigned from the Labour Party and stepped down from the House of Lords after new documents released from the US Justice Department suggested he leaked market-sensitive information to Epstein during the financial crisis. In a statement released on Sunday, McSweeney said the decision to appoint Lord Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US was “wrong” and he takes “full responsibility” for advising Starmer to do so. McSweeney said: “After careful reflection, I have decided to resign from the Government. "The decision to appoint Peter Mandelson was wrong. He has damaged our party, our country and trust in politics itself. “When asked, I advised the Prime Minister to make that appointment and I take full responsibility for that advice. Reacting to his chief of staff’s departure, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “It’s been an honour working with Morgan McSweeney for many years. "He turned our party around after one of its worst ever defeats and played a central role running our election campaign. "It is largely thanks to his dedication, loyalty and leadership that we won a landslide majority and have the chance to change the country. “Having worked closely with Morgan in opposition and in government, I have seen every day his commitment to the Labour Party and to our country. Our party and I owe him a debt of gratitude, and I thank him for his service.” Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said the prime minister should “take responsibility” for his actions, in reaction to his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney’s departure. She said on X: “It’s about time. “But once again with this PM it’s somebody else’s fault: ‘Mandelson lied to me’ or ‘Morgan advised me’. “Keir Starmer has to take responsibility for his own terrible decisions. But he never does.” Meanwhile more emails have emerged from the Epstein files relating to the then-Prince Andrew. They appear to show he invited Jeffrey Epstein and a Romanian woman, described as "very cute" to Buckingham Palace. Andrew has always denied any wrongdoing. • Subscribe to ITV News on YouTube: http://bit.ly/2lOHmNj • Get breaking news and more stories at http://www.itv.com/news Follow ITV News on TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@itvnews?lang=en Follow ITV News on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itvnews/ Follow ITV News on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/itvnews/ Follow ITV News on X: https://twitter.com/itvnews