Labour peer Matthew Doyle has been suspended from the party whip after it emerged he campaigned for a friend convicted of possessing indecent images of children. Doyle, who served as Keir Starmer's head of communications until last March and was made a peer in December, apologised for his links to Sean Morton, a former Labour councillor in Scotland convicted in 2018.
The controversy adds to pressure on Starmer, who is already facing scrutiny over the appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to Washington despite his ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Doyle's suspension follows reports in the Sunday Times that he supported Morton even after the councillor was charged in 2016, travelling to Scotland to campaign for him as an independent candidate.
In a statement, Doyle said: 'I want to apologise for my past association with Sean Morton. His offences were vile and I completely condemn the actions for which he was rightly convicted.' He admitted it was 'a clear error of judgment' not to cease support before Morton's guilty plea, and said he has had 'extremely limited' contact with Morton since.
Separately, Scottish Labour MSP Pam Duncan-Glancy was suspended from the party whip after disclosures about her friendship with Morton. She announced she would quit the Scottish parliament in May, saying she did not wish for a personal friendship to become a distraction. SNP MSP Rona Mackay had called for her suspension, accusing Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar of hypocrisy.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said Starmer 'handed a peerage to Matthew Doyle despite knowing about his ongoing friendship with a man charged with child sex crimes', calling on the prime minister to 'come clean'. Starmer has denied knowing about Doyle's relationship with Morton before the peerage was awarded.
