Starmer below rising strain as one other key staffer quits

U.Ok. Prime Minister Keir Starmer got here below rising strain on Monday (February 9, 2026) as Scottish Labour chief Anas Sarwar known as for him to step down following the resignation, earlier on Monday (February 9), of Mr. Starmer’s communications head, Tim Allan.

Mr. Allan, who stop to “enable a brand new No. 10 crew to be constructed”, departed lower than a day after key Starmer ally and Chief of Employees Morgan McSweeney resigned after taking “full duty” for the appointment of Peter Mandelson as Britain’s U.S. envoy. Mr. Mandelson was sacked by Mr. Starmer in September after it got here to mild that his ties with baby intercourse offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein had been stronger than was beforehand recognized to the general public.

Mr. Allan, who was a part of the Tony Blair Authorities’s communications crew and ran a non-public PR company, was appointed by Mr. Starmer in September 2025. His departure is the most recent take a look at of Mr. Starmer’s capability to remain on in No. 10, with some MPs from his personal occasion in addition to the opposition calling for his departure.

With a view to the approaching Might 7 elections on the native and Meeting ranges (i.e., the Scottish and Welsh legislatures), Mr. Sarwar known as on Mr. Starmer to step down, at the same time as he referred to their “real friendship “ and known as Mr. Starmer a “first rate man”.

“There have been too many incidences the place the unsuitable judgement calls have been made,” Mr Sarwar stated at a press convention. The chance to eliminate the ruling Scottish Nationwide Get together (SNP) in Might was “too vital to be missed”, he added.

In Westminster, nonetheless, Mr. Starmer acquired the backing of lots of his cupboard colleagues, together with International Secretary Yvette Cooper, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves, Power Secretary Ed Miliband and Tradition Secretary Lisa Nandy.

Labour, below Mr. Starmer, gained a big majority within the U.Ok. Parliament in July 2024, however his authorities has been beleaguered by rifts throughout the occasion over points together with welfare spending and wavering on marketing campaign commitments associated to not elevating revenue tax charges.

Moreover, each Mr. Starmer’s occasion and the opposition Conservative Get together have confronted a robust and rising Reform U.Ok., a nativist occasion that grew out of the motion for Brexit (Britain’s departure from the EU).

Mr. Starmer is predicted to satisfy along with his colleagues on the weekly Monday night time (February 9) Parliamentary Labour Get together assembly. Conserving sufficient MPs on his facet might be key to his capability to proceed in workplace.

It appeared that Mr Starmer was standing agency regardless of the opposition.

“We go ahead from right here. We go together with confidence as we proceed altering the nation,” Mr. Starmer stated, as he addressed Downing Road employees throughout on Monday (February 9).