When it rains for Starmer, it pours. As if the Prime Minister didn’t have enough on his plate – what with his deputy Angela Rayner resigning over her tax affairs before Starmer sacked Peter Mandelson from his ambassador role over his links to Jeffrey Epstein – now one of his top aides has quit over sexually explicit messages. Uh oh…
It transpires that Paul Ovenden had exchanged messages with a former colleague in 2017 in which he discussed a game of ‘shag, marry, kill’ involving Labour MP Diane Abbott. In the messages, Ovenden – a close ally of Morgan McSweeney – retold a rather graphic account of the story in which two women described performing sex acts on the now 71-year-old MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington. Good heavens…
Speaking to ITV News, Ovenden conceded he had been involved in a ‘silly conversation’ eight years ago, admitting that:
Before summer, I had announced to some of my colleagues my intention to leave government. Though the messages long pre-date my current employment and relationship with the Prime Minister, I’ve brought forward my resignation to avoid distracting from the vital work this government is doing to positively change people’s lives. As an advisor, my duty is to protect the reputation of the Prime Minister and his government. While it is chilling that a private conversation from nearly a decade ago can do this sort of damage, I am also truly, deeply sorry for it and the hurt it will cause.
It’s the latest bit of bad news for the PM after a number of his backbencher have publicly criticised the Labour leadership – with some even suggesting that Starmer could ousted as leader if next May’s elections don’t go well for the party of government. It’s hardly the best start to the week the Prime Minister could’ve hoped for…
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