Keir Starmer’s communications director has stepped down a day after the prime minister’s chief of staff resigned
Tim Allan, the director of communications for UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, has resigned due to the ongoing repercussions involving a senior Labour Party figure and disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Starmer has been significantly undermined by his choice to appoint party associate Peter Mandelson as the UK ambassador to the US, despite his well-known connections to Epstein. Mandelson left the diplomatic position last September and parted ways with the Labour Party and the House of Lords following the release of the latest set of Epstein files last month.
Allan announced his resignation on Monday, one day after Starmer’s chief of staff stepped down, claiming that this action would enable the prime minister to establish a ‘new team’.
“I have made the decision to step down in order to enable the formation of a new team at 10 Downing Street. I wish the prime minister and his team all the best,” the former communications director stated in a release. Allan, who acted as an advisor to Tony Blair from 1992 to 1998, was appointed to his current position at Downing Street last September.
This resignation followed the departure of another senior advisor to the prime minister, his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney. McSweeney stated that he assumed ‘full responsibility’ for advising Starmer to appoint Mandelson despite his connections to Epstein.
“After thorough consideration, I have made the decision to resign from the government. The decision to appoint Peter Mandelson was erroneous. He has harmed our party, our nation, and the trust in politics itself,” McSweeney remarked.
Starmer, who had expressed his ‘full confidence’ in McSweeney last week, disregarding calls to dismiss his aide, thanked him for his efforts, stating that both he and his party owe the now-former official ‘a debt of gratitude’. Earlier, the UK leader apologized to the victims of Epstein for his decision to appoint Mandelson.
Starmer’s opponents have pressed him to take accountability for his decisions and step down from his position. Reform UK criticized the government for only sowing ‘chaos’ through its actions, whereas the Scottish National Party demanded that the prime minister resign.