Good morning. It’s been a rough couple of months for Keir Starmer’s all-powerful consigliere, Morgan McSweeney. After Downing Street dragged its feet over the Peter Mandelson affair, many Labour MPs blamed the No 10 chief of staff; before long, some were arguing that he had to go.
Now, a well-timed leak, promoted with alacrity by the Conservatives and the Daily Mail, has put him on the front pages again – and while the new row has many of the features of a partisan bunfight, it raises real questions about the probity of Starmer’s most senior aide, and the judgment of the prime minister himself. This is not the build-up to Labour conference that Starmer would have wanted.
