Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has admitted that his former communications chief Matthew Doyle “did not give a full account of his actions” before being nominated for a peerage. The admission came during Prime Minister’s Questions after it emerged that Doyle had campaigned for a friend convicted of possessing indecent images of children.
Doyle, who stepped down as No 10 head of communications last March, was suspended from the Labour whip in the Lords on Monday following reports about his support for Sean Morton, a former Labour councillor in Scotland. Morton was convicted in 2018 of possessing indecent images. Doyle has apologised, saying he believed Morton’s claims of innocence before his guilty plea.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch pressed Starmer on why Doyle was given “a job for life in the House of Lords” despite the revelations. Starmer responded: “Matthew Doyle did not give a full account of his actions. On Monday I promised my party and my country there will be change, and yesterday I removed the whip from Matthew Doyle.”
Downing Street has argued that the information about Doyle’s actions came too late to reconsider the peerage, which was announced in December and formally sealed in January. A government spokesperson said there was “no established precedent for withdrawing a peerage nomination after the announcement stage”.
Labour deputy leader Lucy Powell hinted that new legislation to strip Peter Mandelson of his title could also apply to Doyle, saying: “I think the new legislation will be legislation that will apply to any man or woman, to be honest.”
Junior education minister Georgia Gould said Starmer had not known about Doyle’s actions before the nomination, despite a Sunday Times report that No 10 had investigated Doyle’s continued support for Morton after his conviction.
