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Sir Keir Starmer has acknowledged that discussions occurred regarding a possible diplomatic position for his former communications director, Matthew Doyle. Doyle, who was appointed a Labour peer after departing from Downing Street in March 2025, has faced suspension from the parliamentary party as of February this year due to his association with a convicted sex offender.
The allegation linking Doyle to this individual was brought up by Sir Olly Robbins during his testimony to the Foreign Affairs Committee. Robbins, recently dismissed by Starmer amid controversy surrounding Lord Mandelson’s appointment as the UK ambassador to the US, raised concerns about this connection. Responding to these claims, Lord Doyle has denied seeking a diplomatic post and stated he was unaware of any efforts by the Foreign Office to find such a role for him.
At Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs), Starmer faced scrutiny from Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey and Conservative MP Mike Wood, who questioned whether Doyle had been considered for any diplomatic roles. Starmer confirmed that while it is common for conversations to take place about future roles when someone leaves a position, no formal steps materialized from such discussions. Lord Doyle has previously apologized for supporting Sean Morton, a former Labour councillor convicted in 2017 for offenses involving indecent images of children. Doyle explained his campaign efforts for Morton occurred at a time when Morton was still maintaining his innocence.
The dismissal of Sir Olly Robbins, a senior civil servant at the Foreign Office, has dominated political discussion over the past week. It was revealed that the department had approved security clearance for Lord Mandelson’s ambassadorial role in January 2025 despite concerns raised during vetting, and Mandelson was later removed from the position seven months afterwards due to his links with the late Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender. During PMQs, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch pressed Starmer on whether due process was followed in Mandelson’s appointment, to which the prime minister replied affirmatively. Badenoch criticized attempts to secure a Foreign Office position for Doyle as evidence of cronyism and called on Starmer to resign, blaming him for the failures that led to Robbins’ sacking.
Despite chants of “wrong, wrong, wrong” from some Labour MPs supporting Starmer’s rejection of the criticisms, there was a noticeable lack of enthusiastic backing from others in the party during the usually supportive session. Starmer defended himself against the accusations, insisting that many of the claims made by the opposition leader were inaccurate, including allegations that Mandelson’s appointment contravened security advice or involved ministerial knowledge of issues. He added that the opposition leader had again “rushed to judgement,” referencing previous controversial events
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