Keir Starmer accused of ‘stuffing Government with paedophile apologists’ by Badenoch

Sir Keir Starmer is “stuffing Government with hypocrites and paedophile apologists”, the Conservative leader has suggested, as she grilled the Prime Minister in the Commons.

The Prime Minister was also accused of pretending to care about violence against women to “save his own skin” by Kemi Badenoch, amid simmering discontent following the fallout from the Peter Mandelson scandal.

At Prime Minister’s Questions, Badenoch claimed Sir Keir’s decision over Lord Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador is not an “isolated” one, as she questioned why former head of communications Matthew Doyle received a peerage despite his ties to a paedophile councillor.

She said: “The Mandelson episode was not an isolated incident. A few weeks ago he announced a peerage for one Matthew Doyle, his former director of communications.

Convicted sex offender Sean Morton Jasper Image

“Immediately after that, the Sunday Times published on the front page that Doyle campaigned for a man charged with child sex offences, yet despite the Prime Minister knowing this, he gave Doyle a job for life in the House of Lords anyway. Why?”

In his response, Sir Keir said: “Matthew Doyle did not give a full account of his actions. I promised my party and my country there will be change, and yesterday I removed the whip from Matthew Doyle.”

Lord Doyle apologised after having the Labour whip removed over his links to Sean Morton, who he campaigned for in 2017 after he had been charged over indecent images of children.

It is understood No 10 was not aware Lord Doyle had campaigned for Morton at the time of his appointment.

In a statement, Lord Doyle apologised “unreservedly” for supporting Moray councillor Morton before the case against him had concluded.

Lord Matthew Doyle with former Labour councillor Sean Morton (right) and US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Facebook

He said he also had “extremely limited” contact with Morton after his conviction.

SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn called for Sir Keir to release propriety advice relating to Lord Doyle.

Flynn told the Commons that if the Prime Minister’s “pitch” was that Lord Doyle was not “clear with him”, then Sir Keir “appears to be the most gullible former director of public prosecutions in history”.

He continued: “He has a slight problem, because some of us do read the newspapers.

“And towards the end of last year, indeed, on December 30, having written to the House of Lords Appointments Commission, I received a response from the chair, who advised me that, as part of their vetting, they provide confidential advice to the Prime Minister on the propriety of a potential nominee. Will he release that advice?”

Sir Keir replied: “I’ve made my position for clear – he knows how the system works.”

Sir Keir added that Flynn “will have read” in the newspapers that former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell faces a charge of alleged embezzlement, and that at “the Queen Elizabeth Hospital we see one of the worst failures in Scottish public life, vulnerable children and adults put at risk, evidence of serious warnings to the SNP government were ignored”.

The Prime Minister said: “He should be looking at those, not looking at the newspapers – the First Minister (John Swinney) should act because families deserve accountability.”

Insight Lucy Dunn Westminster Correspondent

Prime Minister Keir Starmer might no longer be at imminent risk of losing his job, but that doesn’t mean that questions over his judgement have stopped

At Prime Minister’s Questions today, the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and the SNP all brought up the peerage awarded to Keir Starmer’s former spin doctor Matthew Doyle – over his links to convicted paedophile and former Scottish Labour councillor Sean Morton.

Today Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the Prime Minister was more focused on his career than the concerns of women in his own party – and accused him of stuffing his team with ‘hypocrites and paedophile apologists’.

Lib Dem leader Ed Davey described the peerage as a ‘catastrophic lack of judgement’ and the SNP’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn demanded the Prime Minister make public the advice he received on the decision.

This coming so soon after the revelations about Peter Mandelson’s friendship with Jeffrey Epstein marks another blow for Keir Starmer. And while the Prime Minister hit back at his opponents – pointing to various scandals in their own parties – he didn’t manage to achieve more than painting a bleak picture of politics in general.

Scottish Labour suspends MSP Pam Duncan-Glancy

On Tuesday, the Labour whip in the Scottish Parliament was withdrawn from MSP Pam Duncan-Glancy amid an investigation into her friendship with Morton.

Duncan-Glancy stood down as her party’s education spokesperson in December.

Duncan-Glancy said she would quit the Scottish Parliament in May, adding: “While this has obviously been a very difficult decision, and it is the greatest honour of my life to represent Glasgow, I do not wish for a personal friendship to become a distraction.”

A Scottish Labour spokesperson said: “All complaints are assessed thoroughly in line with our rules and procedures.”