PRIME Minister Sir Keir Starmer faced further criticism today for failing to “take responsibility” over his government’s negative press briefings as the head of the Civil Service was forced out of his job.

The embattled PM has been accused of scapegoating Sir Chris Wormald to “save his own skin” following weeks of political turbulence amid the latest Mandelson scandal.

There have been a string of negative reports over the top mandarin’s performance despite the PM appointing him just 14 months ago.

Today former cabinet secretary Lord Gus O’Donnell described the pattern of anonymous hatchet jobs as one of the Labour administration’s “biggest failings,” urging Sir Keir to “get a grip” and “take responsibility.”

Lord O’Donnell drew parallels with the previous resignation of former mandarin Sue Gray, who quit as Labour’s chief of staff in 2024 following a slew of briefings against her.

“Where it’s shabby is the fact that we’ve got to this place and that they have briefed anonymously against the cabinet secretary saying it’s not working,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“They’ve been doing this for a long time. This is a process that this government — I’m afraid it’s one of their biggest failings.”

The peer, who served as cabinet secretary under the premierships of Sir Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Lord David Cameron, added: “This is the fundamental problem, and that is something the Prime Minister can solve by getting a grip on his special advisers.”

He cited pre-Budget briefings as another example, describing the run-up to the Autumn Statement last year as a “complete omnishambles from a comms point of view.”

A leak inquiry was launched following the reporting, which ministers say was unauthorised and included a story in the Financial Times that plans to increase income tax had been dropped, but the source has not been identified.

Sir Chris became the third senior figure to quit the government in the past week, following Sir Keir’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney and communications director Tim Allan.

He is widely expected to be replaced by Home Office permanent secretary Dame Antonia Romeo, viewed by Downing Street as a “disrupter,” despite warnings from her former boss at the Foreign Office.