Starmer's chief of staff resigns as PM under pressure to go as well

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is under increasing pressure to step down as the fall-out over the Mandelson row widens. Starmer's chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, announced on Sunday he was stepping down saying the decision to appoint Lord Mandelson to the role "was wrong", before saying, "I advised the prime minister to make that appointment and I take full responsibility for that advice".  McSweeney has advised the prime minister to appoint Mandelson as Ambassador to the United States, despite Starmer knowing that his links with Jeffrey Epstein continued after the financier's conviction for child sex offences. No-one has openly come out and called for Starmer to resign but political commentators say that dissent among Labour MP's is growing. One MP told Sky News "it's not if, it's when he goes."