Keir Starmer was accused of packing his Government with ‘paedophile apologists’ as he struggled to defend another controversial appointment on Wednesday.
The Prime Minister was skewered in the Commons over his decision to hand a peerage to his former communications chief, Matthew Doyle – despite knowing he had stayed friends with a Labour councillor charged with child-sex offences.
Lord Doyle’s appointment echoes Sir Keir’s decision to bring back Peter Mandelson as US ambassador in spite of warnings about his friendship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The row raises fresh questions about the PM’s judgment and threatens to plunge his leadership back into crisis just days after he narrowly avoided a coup over his handling of the Mandelson scandal.
Furious Labour women accused him of presiding over a ‘boys’ club’ in No 10 that had paid too little attention to the victims of sexual abuse.
Harriet Harman, a former deputy leader of the party, called for Sir Keir to appoint a women as his de facto deputy to ‘turbo-charge’ a ‘complete culture change’.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy also complained about ‘toxic briefings’ that were ‘dripping with misogyny’.
The PM told a meeting of the women’s Parliamentary Labour Party that he would consider Baroness Harman’s call to put a woman into the post of First Secretary of State.
Keir Starmer has come under fire for his appointment of Lord Matthew Doyle despite his friendship with convicted child-sex offender, former Labour councillor Sean Morton
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy at BBC Broadcasting House, January 18, 2026
Asked if she believed he was serious about ending the boys’ club, Baroness Harman said: ‘I think he knows he’s got to. There were a lot of women saying there needs to be leadership, because there’s a lot of junior men, who look at the way senior men have behaved, and think that’s the way you behave, that’s the way you get on – and that’s got to change.’
Asked whether he had been contrite, she said the PM was ‘purposeful’ and pointed to his background as a ‘feminist ally’. But when asked how the meeting had gone, one prominent MP rolled her eyes, while another accused Sir Keir of ‘mansplaining’.
Lord Doyle, who served as Sir Keir’s communications chief for four years, was stripped of the Labour whip on Tuesday night as anger grew over his appointment.
But Downing Street was unable to explain why Sir Keir had proceeded with his elevation to the Lords last month following revelations in December that Lord Doyle had campaigned for former Labour councillor Sean Morton after he had been charged with serious sex offences.
In the Commons, Kemi Badenoch said there was now an ‘established pattern of behaviour’ in which the PM ignored warnings about the conduct of allies until he had to cast them aside to ‘save his own skin’.
The Tory leader accused the PM of ‘stuffing Government with hypocrites and paedophile apologists’.
Sir Keir told MPs his former communications chief ‘did not give a full account’ of his friendship with Morton when he was vetted for the Lords, an excuse similar to that trotted out when Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador came in for scrutiny.
Stephen Flynn, the SNP’s leader in the Commons, mocked the PM, branding him ‘the most gullible former Director of Public Prosecutions in history’.
Lord Matthew Doyle outside Downing Street, October 2024
Former deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman at BBC Broadcasting House, June 2024
Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey added: ‘To appoint one paedophile supporter cannot be excused as misfortune. To appoint two shows a catastrophic lack of judgment.’
One MP said Labour activists were being branded ‘paedo lovers’ on voters’ doorsteps.
Labour peer Ayesha Hazarika told Times Radio: ‘This guy (Morton) was convicted of very, very serious paedophilic crimes. Forget the vetting process, what’s happening with the nonce detector at Downing Street? I don’t make light of it, but what is going on?’
Last night Mrs Badenoch demanded that the PM publish all the documents relating to Lord Doyle’s appointment – and warned that she could force a vote in Parliament on the issue if he refused.
‘Keir Starmer did not care about these scandals until they threatened his premiership,’ she said. ‘He was all too happy to stuff the Lords with his grubby cronies.
‘No matter what excuses he comes up with, the facts are clear. He appointed his former director of communications Matthew Doyle as a peer, knew about his association with a paedophile, had the power to act, and yet he still chose to sit on his hands. All the documents must be published. No more cover-ups.’
Downing Street was last night resisting the call, saying an internal inquiry was underway.
