British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s chief of staff has quit over the appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the United States after files revealed the extent of Mandelson’s relationship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

“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,” Starmer’s top aide Morgan McSweeney said in a statement on Sunday.

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“I advised the Prime Minister to make that appointment and I take full responsibility for that advice,” he added.

Labour members of parliament had called for McSweeney’s resignation after new evidence about Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein was revealed in the latest tranche of documents and photos from the investigation into the American financier were released by the US Department of Justice. The lawmakers blamed McSweeney for the appointment of Mandelson and the damage caused by the publication of the crude exchanges between him and Epstein.

McSweeney, 48, who was a protege and friend of Mandelson, was accused by some Labour lawmakers and his political opponents of failing to ensure that there were proper background checks when the ambassador was appointed.

In a statement on Sunday, Starmer said it had been “an honour” to work with McSweeney, who had held the role of chief of staff since October 2024.

Mandelson’s payout

Mandelson was sacked by Starmer in September over his friendship with Epstein and last week also quit the Labour Party and House of Lords, the upper chamber of the UK Parliament. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said it is reviewing an exit payment made to him after he was fired.

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Mandelson, a pivotal figure in British politics and the Labour Party for decades, received an estimated payout of between 38,750 pounds and 55,000 pounds ($52,000 to $74,000) after only seven months in the job, according to a report in the Sunday Times newspaper.

Documents released on January 30 by the US Justice Department appeared to show that Mandelson had also allegedly leaked confidential UK government information to Epstein when he was a British minister, including during the 2008 financial crisis.

The Foreign Office said in a statement that it has launched a review into Mandelson’s severance payment “in light of further information that has now been revealed and the ongoing police investigation”.

Mandelson’s lawyers have said he “regrets, and will regret until his dying day, that he believed Epstein’s lies about his criminality”.

“Lord Mandelson did not discover the truth about Epstein until after his death in 2019,” said a spokesperson for the law firm Mishcon de Reya, which represents Mandelson.

“He is profoundly sorry that powerless and vulnerable women and girls were not given the protection they deserved,” the law firm added.

Starmer’s political future in peril?

The departure of McSweeney has thrown the future direction of the government into doubt, less than two years after the Labour Party won one of the largest parliamentary majorities in modern British history.

With polls showing Starmer is already hugely unpopular with voters, some in his own party are openly questioning his judgement and future, and it remains to be seen whether McSweeney’s exit will be enough to silence his critics.

Cabinet minister Pat McFadden earlier insisted Starmer should remain in office despite his “terrible mistake” in appointing Mandelson.

The close Starmer ally told broadcasters the party should stick with the prime minister.

“He [Starmer] should be realistic and accept that this has been a terrible story, that this appointment was a terrible mistake,” McFadden, the work and pensions secretary, told BBC television.

He said the real blame lay “squarely with Peter Mandelson”, who put himself forward for the job despite knowing the extent of his relationship with Epstein.

But according to a report by the Sunday Telegraph, Starmer’s deputy, David Lammy, has become the first cabinet minister to appear to distance himself from Starmer.

The deputy prime minister had not been in favour of appointing Mandelson due to his known links to Epstein, the report quoted friends of Lammy as saying.

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