Starmer's ex-chief aide Morgan McSweeney denies trying to 'bully' Foreign Office into waving through Mandelson's appointment

By JAMES TAPSFIELD, UK POLITICAL EDITOR Published: 10:47, 24 April 2026 | Updated: 10:55, 24 April 2026 Keir Starmer's former chief of staff has denied trying to bully civil servants into waving through Peter Mandelson's appointment as US ambassador. The foreign affairs committee heard claims earlier this week that Morgan McSweeney called the top mandarin the Foreign Office ordering him to 'just f***ing approve' the peer's post. Mr McSweeney is due to appear before MPs himself next week to explain his role in the scandal, in what could be another pivotal moment for Sir Keir.    However, the strategist reportedly told a security forum in Kyiv: 'I find it strange reading about a character with the same name as mine sometimes. 'I don't recognise that character,' he said, according to The Times. Morgan McSweeney is due to appear before MPs next week to explain his role in the Mandelson scandal Sir Keir has been struggling to cling on in No10 amid Labour fury at his handling of the situation Mr McSweeney resigned in February saying he took 'full responsibility' for recommending Mandelson for the the coveted job. Sir Keir has been struggling to cling on in No10 amid Labour fury at his handling of the situation.   Giving evidence to the committee on Tuesday, ousted Foreign Office chief Olly Robbins said there was an 'atmosphere of pressure' and 'constant chasing' from Downing Street over finalising Mandelson's vetting. Sir Olly was asked during the hearing about the alleged call from Mr McSweeney to his predecessor as permanent under-secretary, Sir Philip Barton. He added that he did not 'remember' Sir Philip 'using those words' about the call, but he was 'not the sort of person' who would have 'reported them verbatim'. Downing Street has already denied that civil servants were bullied or cajoled by Mr McSweeney. The PM's official spokesman said earlier this week: 'There is a distinction clearly between asking reasonably for updates on an appointment process … I would draw a distinction between the idea of pressure and, you know, being kept informed about the process and the progress of the appointment.' In his exit statement, Mr McSweeney took 'full responsibility' for giving Sir Keir advice that resulted in the 'wrong' appointment decision. He also called for an overhaul of the vetting procedures. Giving evidence to the committee on Tuesday, ousted Foreign Office chief Olly Robbins said there was an 'atmosphere of pressure' and 'constant chasing' from Downing Street over finalising Mandelson's vetting The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.