{"id":880,"date":"2026-02-11T14:48:04","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T14:48:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/?p=880"},"modified":"2026-02-11T14:48:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T14:48:09","slug":"uks-starmer-faces-new-row-over-appointing-ex-aide-to-lords-despite-links-to-convicted-paedophile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/11\/uks-starmer-faces-new-row-over-appointing-ex-aide-to-lords-despite-links-to-convicted-paedophile\/","title":{"rendered":"UK’s Starmer faces new row over appointing ex-aide to Lords despite links to convicted paedophile"},"content":{"rendered":"

In echo of Mandelson scandal, Matthew Doyle, Starmer\u2019s former communications chief, was appointed to House of Lords despite his links to Sean Doyle, who was convicted over indecent images of children <\/p><\/div>\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>By Aysu Bicer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the Mandelson\/Epstein scandal still fresh on voters\u2019 minds, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday faced mounting questions over his decision to appoint a former aide to the House of Lords despite the aide\u2019s links to a convicted paedophile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Prime Minister\u2019s Questions, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch accused Starmer of having an \u201cestablished pattern\u201d of \u201cstuffing government with hypocrites and paedophile apologists,\u201d clearly also referring to the Lord Mandelson scandal, which is still simmering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new row centres on the appointment of Matthew Doyle, Starmer\u2019s former communications director, to the House of Lords, Parliament\u2019s unelected upper chamber. The controversy erupted when London’s Sunday Times reported on Doyle\u2019s past support for Sean Morton, a convicted sex offender.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After being charged over indecent images of children in December 2016, Morton was suspended from the Labour Party in January 2017. Morton ran for the House of Commons that May as an independent, unsuccessfully. Despite the charge, Doyle campaigned for Morton. That November, Morton admitted to the offences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doyle last month took his seat in the House of Lords, and was suspended by the Labour Party on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Badenoch pressed Starmer on why he had given Doyle a \u201cjob for life,\u201d as seats in the House of Lords typically last a lifetime. In response, Starmer said Doyle had not given \u201ca full account of his actions\u201d when he was given a peerage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– \u2018Catastrophic lack of judgement\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starmer was appearing at his first Prime Minister\u2019s Questions since surviving Monday\u2019s attempt to force him from office over the scandal of Lord Mandelson, who Starmer appointed Britain\u2019s ambassador to the US despite Mandelson\u2019s links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Questioned about Doyle, Starmer told MPs that he had \u201caccepted responsibility\u201d and apologised for the mistakes he made, though this further misstep is likely to increase pressure for him to step down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey also criticised the Doyle appointment, linking it to Starmer\u2019s 2024 decision to appoint Mandelson US ambassador.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo appoint one paedophile supporter cannot be excused as misfortune,\u201d Davey says. \u201cTo appoint two shows a catastrophic lack of judgement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephen Flynn, Westminster leader of the Scottish National Party, also challenged the prime minister, saying Starmer \u201cappears to be the most gullible former director of public prosecutions in history\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Thursday, Starmer said he was “sorry” for believing Mandelson’s “lies” and appointing him ambassador to the US, as pressure continued to mount after he admitted to knowing about Mandelson’s ties with Epstein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mandelson was sacked last September, but recently released Epstein files suggested that he shared confidential information with the convicted sex offender when serving as business secretary in 2009.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mandelson has also stepped down from the House of Lords and the Labour Party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US Justice Department recently released more than three million files related to the Epstein case under a law passed last November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Epstein was found dead by suicide in a New York City jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges involving underage girls. – Anadulo Agency<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In echo of Mandelson scandal, Matthew Doyle, Starmer\u2019s former communications chief, was appointed to House of Lords despite his links to Sean Doyle, who was convicted over indecent images of children<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":881,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[144,56],"class_list":{"0":"post-880","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-labour-party","9":"tag-starmer"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=880"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":882,"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880\/revisions\/882"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}