Starmer plunged into fresh crisis as paedophile-linked peer and former comms chief suspended from Labour

Sir Keir Starmer’s fightback against an attempted Labour leadership coup has been overshadowed by a fresh scandal involving one of his closest former aides.

Labour announced on Tuesday evening that it had suspended Sir Keir’s former communications chief, Matthew Doyle, who the prime minister elevated to the House of Lords in December, over his links to a convicted paedophile, former councillor Sean Morton.

The latest development will raise fresh questions over Sir Keir’s integrity and judgment, with echoes of the Peter Mandelson scandal, which has already cost him his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, and brought his premiership to the brink of collapse.

Lord Mandelson was made ambassador to the US – the UK’s most important diplomatic role – despite the prime minister knowing of his ongoing relationship with the convicted paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

And now, Lord Doyle, who retains his peerage despite being stripped of the party whip, has revealed that he, too, had kept in contact with Morton, even after he was convicted.

In a statement, Lord Doyle said any contact “was extremely limited and I have not seen or spoken to him in years”.

He said: “I acted to try to ensure the welfare of a troubled individual whilst fully condemning the crimes for which he has been convicted, and being clear that my thoughts are with the victims of his crimes. I am sorry about the mistakes I have made. I will not be taking the Labour whip.”

“For the avoidance of any doubt, let me conclude where I started. Morton's crimes were vile, and my only concerns are for his victims,” he added.

In a bid to limit the damage, sources in Downing Street last night briefed that No 10 was not aware that Lord Doyle had campaigned for Morton at the time of his appointment. Nevertheless, there were media reports on the issue before Lord Doyle was sworn in as a peer.

Lord Doyle, who worked for Sir Keir in opposition and entered Downing Street with him in 2024, campaigned for Morton when he ran as an independent in May 2017 – four months after Morton had appeared in court charged in connection with indecent child images.

His statement continued: “I want to apologise for my past association with Sean Morton. His offences were vile, and I completely condemn the actions for which he was rightly convicted. My thoughts are with the victims and all those impacted by these crimes.

"At the point of my campaigning support, Morton repeatedly asserted to all those who knew him his innocence, including initially in court. He later changed his plea in court to guilty.

“To have not ceased support ahead of a judicial conclusion was a clear error of judgment for which I apologise unreservedly.”

The news broke just hours after Sir Keir broke cover to launch his personal fightback with a speech focused on the cost of living at a community centre in Hertford.

Hitting back at Labour infighting that has split the party over whether he should continue as prime minister, Sir Keir insisted: “I will never walk away from the mandate I was given to change this country. I will never walk away from the people that I'm charged with fighting for. And I will never walk away from the country that I love.”

Lord Doyle’s suspension comes as a blow to Sir Keir just a day after his government was rocked by the departure of a second key aide, director of communications Tim Allan, and a public demand for the PM’s resignation from Labour’s own leader in Scotland, Anas Sarwar.

He was also facing questions over whether he would sack cabinet secretary, Sir Christopher Wormald, a year after appointing him, with Home Office permanent secretary Dame Antonia Romeo the expected replacement.

Already, Sir Keir had been embarrassed by his health secretary Wes Streeting, who published private messages between himself and Lord Mandelson to clear his name over “smears” about their relationship. The publication broke cabinet collective responsibility by revealing Mr Streeting disagreed with Middle East and economic policy in the government of which he is a part, and prompted No 10 to warn other ministers not to follow suit.

While Sir Keir was too weak to sack him, energy secretary Ed Miliband hit out at the health secretary for breaking collective responsibility, and the Metropolitan Police and Cabinet Office warned other ministers against further publications which could undermine any criminal action against the disgraced former Labour peer, Lord Mandelson. He is facing a police probe over allegations he leaked sensitive government information to Epstein when he was business secretary under Gordon Brown.

Last week, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch wrote to Sir Keir, calling on him to publish “vetting advice and due diligence” received ahead of Mr Doyle being handed a peerage. Sir Keir also faced questions about the appointment at a meeting of Labour MPs on Monday night.

Reacting to the latest scandal, Ms Badenoch said: “Keir Starmer handed a peerage to Matthew Doyle despite knowing about his ongoing friendship with a man charged with child sex crimes. The Prime Minister has now suspended the whip, but he must come clean about what he was told before making this appointment. We won’t let this go.”

Despite being stripped of the Labour whip, Lord Doyle will remain a peer. Currently, peers can retire from the House of Lords but cannot be removed, although Sir Keir has discussed plans to change that process in the wake of the Mandelson scandal.