The transatlantic tsunami unleashed by the scandal linked to the name of Jeffrey Epstein hits the heart of Downing Street. The one to be overwhelmed (for now) is Morgan McSweeney, 48 years old, right-hand man and strategist of the British Labor Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who from today thus loses his last shield and remains alone: now also the target of an internal revolt with respect to the outcomes of which the ‘if’ no longer seems to be under discussion, but the ‘when’. The controversial and powerful McSweeney, former guru of Starmer’s 2024 election campaign and unscrupulous weaver of power plots behind the scenes, resigned from the position of chief of staff to the prime minister after having long acted as a lightning rod for Sir Keir. He threw in the towel, taking upon himself the responsibility of having “advised” the prime minister on the political appointment of 72-year-old Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US by Donald Trump: former eminence grise of Tony Blair’s New Labor and former minister recycled a year ago from the elephant cemetery of the House of Lords for a crucial diplomatic role, only to be torpedoed a few months later following further revelations on his well-known past relationships with Epstein and on the round of confidential government information shared with the deceased American pedophile financier.
McSweeney’s letter: ‘I have damaged our party and our country’
«After careful consideration, I have decided to resign. The decision to appoint Peter Mandelson was wrong. It has damaged our party, our country and trust in politics”, wrote McSweeney in the auto-de-fé letter sent to the head of government. Letter to which Starmer responded publicly by accepting his resignation, but not without saying he was “honoured” by the journey made together. His hope, evidently, is that the sacrifice of the most faithful shadow councilor will be enough to save him; or, at the very least, to give it a few months of breathing space. A bet bordering on the impossible, in the almost unanimous opinion of the media and political voices of the Kingdom.
For the opposition, the prime minister is done for
The opposition considers the prime minister already doomed, whether through conservative Kemi Badenoch or Trumpian Nigel Farage. But what is shaking Starmer and his moderate leadership, just a year and a half after arriving at Number 10, is above all the faction in the majority. “Advisors advise, but prime ministers decide,” commented veteran John McDonnell, surviving member of the internal left, ruling out the possibility that the hated McSweeney could become the sole scapegoat for the Epstein Files. Furthermore, it is not just the ultra-progressives who are fanning the flames of the revolt within the Labor Party, while other embarrassing revelations risk emerging from the police investigations opened into the much-talked-about former lord, from internal checks at the Foreign Office and from the promised publication of Downing Street documents on his appointment to Washington. A designation from which even David Lammy, Starmer’s Foreign Minister at the time of the events and current deputy prime minister, now distances himself, taking care to make it known after a short time that he had “not recommended” it at the time.
Potential challengers
Meanwhile, according to rumours, several potential challengers to Sir Keir’s Labor leadership are already moving forward: from the resurgent former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, exponent of the so-called internal ‘soft left’ put out of action months ago by the (minor) affair of suspected tax evasion on the purchase of a house; to more ‘right-wing’ figures such as the neo-Blairian Wes Streeting, head of the Health Department (welcome to the establishment newspapers, but perhaps too close to Mandelson at the dawn of his political career). Furthermore, the shadow of the May administrative elections weighs heavily on the prime minister’s fate, against the backdrop of a feared collapse of consensus marked by flops and the continuous u-turns attributed to his cabinet. If not that of the single vote on 26 February: the date of the by-election for a vacant MP seat in the north of England, where Labor risks losing a historically armored constituency. Perhaps to the benefit of Reform UK, Farage’s anti-immigration party which has been at the top of national polls for months.