No 10 communications chief quits as Mandelson fallout deepens
Keir Starmer’s communications chief has resigned less than six months after joining the Prime Minister’s Downing Street operation, in a further deepening of the crisis engulfing the government over Peter Mandelson’s links to Jeffrey Epstein .
Tim Allan, the founder of PR agency Portland, said in a statement he was leaving government to “allow a new Number 10 team to be built”, leaving Starmer’s premiership hanging by a thread amid growing calls for him to step down.
Allan’s departure means Starmer will now be forced to appoint a fifth director of communications in little more than 18 months.
It is also the second casualty in as many days of the fallout from of the so-called ‘Epstein files’, which laid bare the depth of the relationship between the convicted sex trafficker and Mandelson, Starmer’s former US ambassador.
On Sunday, the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, stood down from his position amid accusations he was behind the move to elevate Mandelson into the UK’s most important diplomatic role. McSweeney said he told Starmer to appoint the disgraced politician, and took “full responsibility” for the political crisis that has ensued.
Allan said in a short statement: “I have decided to stand down to allow a new Number 10 team to be built.
“I wish the PM and his team every success.”
Badenoch calls for Starmer to step down amid Mandelson revelations
Like Mandelson, Allan was a key architect of New Labour. He worked as a press secretary for Tony Blair before setting up the corporate communications advisory Portland.
He returned to Downing Street in September as part of Starmer’s most recent overhaul of a flailing Number 10 operation. Darren Jones also joined Starmer’s staff as part of the same shake-up, moving from his previous role as chief secretary to the Treasury.
Allan’s appointment gave rise to several questions about potential conflicts of interest between government work and his stakes in Portland and Strand Partners, a second lobbying firm founded by the new Labour apparatchik.
His resignation came shortly after Kemi Badenoch called for her opposite number to stand down for the first time, branding his position “untenable”. Speaking to the BBC’s Today programme, the leader of the opposition argued the ultimate responsibility for Mandelson’s appointment lay with Starmer.
“Advisers advise and leaders decide,” she said, adding: “Keir Starmer knew – he knew. It is his judgement and the fact that he has been dishonest… he claimed not to know, then he changed his story and claimed he had been lied to.”