Prime Minister Keir Starmer is facing a fresh crisis after his director of strategy, Paul Ovenden, resigned over sexually explicit messages about veteran Labour MP Diane Abbott. The messages, from 2017, reportedly involved a game of 'shag, marry, kill' and graphic descriptions of sex acts involving Abbott, now 71. No 10 described the messages as 'appalling and unacceptable'.
Ovenden, a former journalist who worked for Labour since 2014, was a close ally of both Starmer and his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney. He said he had announced his intention to leave government before summer but brought forward his resignation to avoid distracting from the government's work. He apologised for the 'silly conversation' from eight years ago.
The resignation is the latest blow to Starmer, who is already reeling from the resignation of Angela Rayner over tax issues and the sacking of ambassador to the US Lord Mandelson over links to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Starmer broke his silence on Mandelson, saying he would never have appointed him had he known about the Epstein links.
Labour MPs have expressed fury, with one veteran moderate saying 'Keir is finished' and another describing the situation as 'the decline of Rome'. Former MP Rosie Duffield said the row 'reflects so badly on Keir Starmer's judgement'. The May elections are seen as a make-or-break moment, with fears of a surge for Nigel Farage.
