Following on from Guido’s Labour Wars column yesterday the situation inside Downing Street is looking poor for Chief of Staff Morgan McSweeney. Mandelson was his closest confidante, they called almost every day and met frequently for years, McSweeney pushed his appointment…
A Downing Street source says Starmer likely “won’t sack him – at least until May.” This being said Guido hears backbenchers are registering their fury at McSweeney and the whips are reporting that there is widespread blame on him from the PLP who are in turn receiving a barrage from their constituents. An insider source says “Jonathan Powell and Tim Allan will be key to how long Morgan lasts”…
The longer the story stays salient the worse it will be for Morgan. A No10 source says that were a full timeline of Mandelson’s appointment to be released it would be extremely damaging for McSweeney because “if ever released it would show just how much Morgan was pushing his appointment” involving “lots of meetings with Darren Tierney and his Propriety and Ethics team, the FCDO and others.” Starmer is said to have been kept in the dark as to most of this. Something of which the beleaguered PM will now be acutely aware…
