UK PM Starmer’s communications director quits

Monday, February 9, 2026 at 6:48 AM

LONDON, Feb 9 (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s director of communications Tim Allan resigned on Monday, a day after Starmer’s top aide Morgan McSweeney quit over his role in backing Peter Mandelson over his known links to Jeffrey Epstein.

The loss of two senior aides in quick succession comes as Starmer tries to draw a line under the crisis in his government resulting from his appointment of Mandelson as ambassador to the U.S.

“I have decided to stand down to allow a new No10 team to be built. I wish the PM and his team every success,” Allan said in a statement on Monday.

Allan served as an adviser to Tony Blair from 1992 to 1998 and went on to found and lead one of the country’s foremost public affairs consultancies in 2001. In September 2025, he was appointed executive director of communications at Downing Street.

(Reporting by Sam Tabahriti, Elizabeth Piper and Catarina Demony; writing by Sarah Young, editing by William James)


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