Aide linked to sex offender ‘did not give full account’ before he was given peerage, PM says

Keir Starmer defends his actions as Kemi Badenoch asks why Matthew Doyle was given ‘a job for life’

Keir Starmer’s former communications chief Matthew Doyle “did not give a full account of his actions” before being nominated for a peerage, the prime minister has told the Commons after it emerged Doyle had campaigned for a friend charged with possessing indecent images of children.

Doyle, a longstanding Starmer aide who stepped down as the No 10 head of communications last March, was suspended on Monday from the Labour whip in his new role in the Lords following reports about his actions.

In the first prime minister’s questions since Starmer faced a near-rebellion from his MPs over his decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as ambassador to Washington, Kemi Badenoch largely ignored the internal Labour dissent.

Instead, the Conservative leader quizzed the PM on the resignation over the weekend of Morgan McSweeney, his chief of staff, the expected departure of Chris Wormald, the cabinet secretary, and the peerage for Doyle.

Badenoch asked why Starmer had given Doyle “a job for life in the House of Lords” despite reporting about Doyle’s links to Sean Morton, a former Labour councillor in Scotland who was convicted in 2018 of possessing indecent images.

On Tuesday, Doyle apologised for doing this, saying Morton had insisted on his innocence before later changing his plea to guilty, and that he had believed him.

“Matthew Doyle did not give a full account of his actions,” Starmer said. “On Monday, I promised my party and my country they will be changed, and yesterday, I removed the whip from Matthew Doyle.”

Starmer also defended McSweeney, saying he “helped me change our party and helped me win a landslide election victory”. In contrast, he told Badenoch, she “delivered for them the smallest Tory party in over 100 years” and had since helped “make it even smaller” as a series of Tory MPs defected to Reform.

Questioned by reporters after prime minister’s questions about whether Doyle would be stripped of his peerage, Starmer’s press secretary said: “As you’re aware, the Labour party is investigating, so we can’t prejudice that.”

Asked why the peerage had not been withdrawn before it was confirmed, the prime minister’s official spokesperson said there was “no established precedent for withdrawing a peerage nomination after the announcement stage”.

No 10 declined to say if it would release its advice to the Lords appointment commission. Badenoch’s spokesperson said the possibility of the Tories using a parliamentary vote to compel the release of such documents was “not off the table”.

Speaking earlier, the junior education minister Georgia Gould said Starmer had not known about Doyle’s actions before he was nominated. “No 10 did not know before they made the decision to give him the peerage,” she told Sky News.

Challenged about the fact that a Sunday Times story reported on 27 December that Downing Street had investigated Doyle’s continued support for Sean Morton after he was charged with indecent child image offences, Gould said the announcement was made on 10 December. “But I think the prime minister has looked at this afresh, given the commitment that he has made to ensure the highest standards in public life.”

The Labour party chair, Anna Turley, said on Tuesday it was her “personal view” that Doyle’s peerage should be taken away. Gould declined to echo those calls, referring to an ongoing investigation by the party, and adding: “We’ll wait for that to conclude. But the prime minister said on Monday night that we want to ensure the highest standards in public life.”

However, she told Times Radio that the vetting process for appointments to the House of Lords had to change in light of the decision to remove the whip from the peer.

Doyle faced pressure after the Sunday Times reported on his support for Morton even when the councillor had been charged in 2016. According to the paper, after Morton was charged and suspended by Labour, Doyle insisted Morton was innocent and travelled to Scotland to support him as he stood as an independent candidate wearing a top with the slogan: “Re-elect Sean Morton.”

In a statement, Doyle said: “I want to apologise for my past association with Sean Morton. His offences were vile and I completely condemn the actions for which he was rightly convicted. My thoughts are with the victims and all those impacted by these crimes.”