IRISHMAN MORGAN MCSWEENEY has resigned as UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s chief of staff after claiming “full responsibility” for advising Starmer to appoint Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US.

Starmer has faced growing pressure for the decision, particularly after admitting last week in the House of Commons that prior to Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador, Starmer had been made aware that there was contact between Mandelson and Epstein following Epstein’s 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor. 

The latest release of Epstein files has led to a police investigation over allegations that Mandelson, who has stepped down from the House of Lords, passed on market-sensitive information to Epstein when he was business secretary following the 2008 financial crisis.

Backbenchers have been calling for Cork native McSweeney to be sacked or for Starmer himself to step down.

In a statement today, McSweeney said, “After careful reflection, I have decided to resign from the Government. The decision to appoint Peter Mandelson was wrong. He has damaged our party, our country and trust in politics itself”.

“When asked, I advised the Prime Minister to make that appointment and I take full responsibility for that advice. In public life responsibility must be owned when it matters most, not just when it is most convenient. In the circumstances, the only honourable course is to step aside.”

McSweeney, who hails from Cork, said he leaves his position “with pride in all we have achieved mixed with regret at the circumstances of my departure”.

“I have always believed there are moments when you must accept your responsibility and step aside for the bigger cause,” he added.

McSweeney was credited as being Starmer’s tactician ahead of the 2024 election which returned Labour to power with a landslide victory.

But various crises that Starmer has faced since then have ratcheted the pressure on him to dispense with McSweeney, something that he has repeatedly said he would not countenance. 

Since the latest developments in the Mandelson scandal, backbench pressure was being publicly heaped on McSweeney.

Labour MP Karl Turner told Times Radio last week that Starmer essentially has to choose between his own job or McSweeney’s. 

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“If the Prime Minister decides that he has to be surrounded by advisors who give him shoddy advice, I think that the reality of that will end in the prime minister having to be making a decision about his future at some point soon,” Turner said. 

One Labour MP told the Press Association that WhatsApp chats among backbenchers that are usually animated have gone “eerily quiet”, and that the mood is “sombre” and suggested this could signal plotting behind the scenes.

They said McSweeney has “got to go” and they were “really disappointed” that he has not already been sacked.

Reform’s leader Nigel Farage also targeted McSweeney, saying that he expected Starmer’s chief of staff to be “gone pretty quickly”. “

“I don’t know how long Starmer will last as PM. Indeed, I’m very worried about it. I want him to stay forever,” Farage said today. 

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch tabled a motion last week to release documents relating to the appointment of Mandelson that would include emails between Mandelson and McSweeney.