LABOUR MPs urged Sir Keir Starmer to follow in the footsteps of his right-hand man Morgan McSweeney after the adviser finally resigned today over Lord Peter Mandelson’s most recent scandal.

The PM’s former chief of staff said Sir Keir’s decision to appoint the New Labour grandee as US ambassador last year was “wrong” and “responsibility must be owned.”

He added he took “full responsibility” for advising the PM to make the appointment, knowing of the peer’s continued ties with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein. 

“In public life, responsibility must be owned when it matters most, not just when it is most convenient,” his exit statement said. 

Lord Mandelson was sacked as ambassador after new revelations emerged over his friendship with Epstein last year.

Recently published US government files have since suggested the disgraced peer, while serving as business secretary in the wake of the 2008 global financial crash, shared sensitive government documents with the financier.

Sir Keir accused Mandelson of repeatedly lying to him amid fury from Labour MPs over the latter’s appointment to the senior Washington post.

Labour MP for Alloa and Grangemouth Brian Leishman called on the PM yesterday to consider following his top aide out the door.

“There must be a change in political direction and that comes from the very top, so the Prime Minister must look at his own position and question whether he should follow McSweeney’s lead one last time and resign, for the good of the country and the Labour Party,” he said.

Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell MP and the Starmerite Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden also urged Sir Keir to take responsibility for the disastrous appointment.

Mr McDonnell said: “Morgan McSweeney’s resignation is the right measure but let’s remember the old adage: Advisers advise but ministers decide.”

Mr McFadden told Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips the aide should not lose his job for Sir Keir’s error, shortly before the resignation was announced.

“In the end, it’s a prime ministerial – signed off by the King – but it’s a prime ministerial appointment,” said the cabinet minister.

“And prime ministers have to take responsibility for the decisions that they make.”

Socialist Campaign Group secretary Richard Burgon MP, meanwhile, welcomed the resignation as an “important first step” but added there “is a lot to do to rid the party of the nasty factionalism that has left Labour so unpopular with the public.”

Momentum co-chairman Alex Charilaou said the resignation “is overdue, but the cynical, authoritarian political culture he embodies goes far deeper.”

“We need a wholesale change in approach,” he said. “Only a Labour Party that returns power to members and offers a bold alternative can restore unity and defeat the far right.”

Labour MP Clive Lewis MP warned Mr McSwenney’s “resignation should not be treated as a cleansing moment” and could “amount to little more than damage limitation” without a fundamental change of political culture in Labour.

Communist Party general secretary Alex Gordon told the Morning Star: “The resignation of Morgan MacSweeney will not save Starmer. 

“Nothing will put Humpty Dumpty back together again.”

Sir Keir said: “It’s been an honour working with Morgan McSweeney for many years.

“He turned our party around after one of its worst ever defeats and played a central role running our election campaign. It is largely thanks to his dedication, loyalty and leadership that we won a landslide majority and have the chance to change the country.

“Having worked closely with Morgan in opposition and in government, I have seen every day his commitment to the Labour Party and to our country. Our party and I owe him a debt of gratitude, and I thank him for his service.”
RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey said: “The Labour government is being held back by an elitist faction epitomised by Morgan McSweeney whose resignation is long overdue.

“However, the vestiges of New Labour are poisoning the well of the entire movement, opening the door to electoral defeat by alienating millions of working class voters in Labour heartlands.

“New Labour created a toxic political culture where the Labour leadership turned on trade unionists, and abandoned workers in favour of a corrupt wealthy elite, epitomised by Mandelson lobbying for bankers bonuses during the crash as ordinary people lost their homes and jobs.

“Mandelson’s association with a notorious paedophile and Starmer’s decision to hire him as US ambassador could be fatal for this government unless the Labour Party changes its leadership and starts organising society in the interests of working people, rather than doffing the cap to the money markets, spivs and speculators.”