Female Labour MPs have demanded that Keir Starmer appoint a senior woman as his de facto deputy to oversee a “complete culture change” in Downing Street after a series of scandals that they say have exposed a No 10 “boys’ club”.
Harriet Harman, one of the party’s most senior figures, urged Starmer to revive the role of first secretary of state on Wednesday, a post occupied by Peter Mandelson under Gordon Brown.
But she insisted the role must be held by a woman to “transform the political culture in government around women and girls”.
The intervention comes after a tumultuous fortnight that has left the prime minister fighting for his political future. This week has seen a clear-out of some of Starmer’s closest advisers, including his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, as he sought to regain his grip on his party.
Starmer was again forced on the defensive on Wednesday, saying that his former communications chief, Matthew Doyle, “did not give a full account of his actions” before being nominated for a peerage, after it emerged he had campaigned for a friend charged with possessing indecent images of children.
Soon after an uncharacteristically pugnacious performance at prime minister’s questions, where the leaders of all the main political partes lined up to question his judgment over Doyle’s peerage, Starmer faced a packed meeting of female members of the Labour party (PLP). He apologised again to them for appointing Mandelson as the UK’s ambassador to the US, promising action to “eradicate structural misogyny”.
Harman told Starmer decisive action was needed to draw a line under the scandals and that he should appoint a woman as first secretary of state who would be his de facto deputy and the most senior cabinet member after him. She said it would be “really powerful” if the role was given to a woman and said fighting misogyny should be the sixth mission of the Starmer government.
Harman was deputy Labour leader under Gordon Brown, but he refused to make her deputy prime minister, later promoting Mandelson to first secretary of state. Mandelson was the last Labour figure to hold the role. Harman said the role would be in addition to the post of deputy prime minister held by David Lammy.
“We need a complete culture change and I think everybody recognises that,” Harman told the Guardian. “But it’s easier to say let’s change culture than to make it happen.” The first secretary role would “turbocharge” the government’s pledge to halve violence against women and girls over the next decade, she said. “It would deal with culture change, but it would also hold every government department accountable for what they are doing on women and empower the work on women that’s happening in each of those departments.”
The culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, said there had been far too many misogynistic briefings by the prime minister’s circle.
“I’ve been completely straight with him about how unacceptable that is,” she told ITV1’s Peston. “And I believe that he is sincere in hating that culture of briefings, particularly briefings against women, of which there have been far too many and it has been far too frequent and is sincere about wanting to stamp that out.
“We need to see far less of these misogynistic briefings. We need far more women around every table where decisions are being made and we need to make sure that we model that change that we’re creating out there in the country.”
The fallout of the Mandelson scandal, worsened by the revelations about Doyle, has sparked real anger in the Labour ranks and particularly among female MPs, with one describing it as “the worst week of her life”.
Another Labour MP said Starmer’s meeting with women from the PLP was “the least he could fucking do”, and that his future depended on moving the dial on violence against women and girls and “ending the kowtowing to the vested interests of powerful rich men”. “I’m just not sure the government is up for it,” they said.
In a blog before the meeting, the local government minister, Alison McGovern, wrote: “It’s our culture that doesn’t properly hear women which meant Peter Mandelson’s power lasted for so long.”
Amid the fury among female members of parliament, a growing Amazonian guard has formed around Starmer since his chief of staff’s resignation. McSweeney, who said he had advised Starmer to appoint Mandelson as US ambassador, has been replaced by acting joint chiefs of staff Vidhya Alakeson and Jill Cuthbertson.
The role of director of communications vacated by Tim Allan on Monday has been filled for now by Sophie Nazemi, one of the few veterans of the Corbyn era who has gained Starmer’s trust. Another name linked with the role is Starmer’s former director of communications Stephanie Driver, who resigned when Allan was promoted above her last autumn. The reputation of No 10’s political director, Amy Richards, has also strengthened, and she is widely thought to be playing a pivotal role in improving Starmer’s relationship with his party.
But MPs urged Starmer to go further at the PLP meeting – described by one attendee as “supportive and constructive” – on Wednesday. The Bolsover MP, Natalie Fleet, who became pregnant after being groomed and raped as a teenager, asked the prime minister to launch a national inquiry into the crimes of the former Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed, telling him that victims had written to No 10 but had not received a reply.
She asked Starmer to meet her and the victims. “These are our victims, this is our Epstein,” she said, adding that English police officers had taken bribes and doctors had checked that victims were virgins.
“I know, as a survivor, that nobody cares,” she said. “Literally, nobody cares. You have to seize the moment right now, people up and down the country saying they care. OK, great, let’s do something about it.”
Fleet said Starmer still had her full support but had to demonstrate that he had listened to women’s concerns, including those in his own party. “I genuinely believe that Starmer is the best we’ve got when it comes to tackling violence against women and girls,” she said.
“If I could pick a prime minister out of the country, I would pick somebody with a record like his. The fact that he’s being derailed to this scale by this drama just feels so ironic, because he genuinely cares. That’s why we need him to do more. We need him to deliver. We need deeds, not words.”
