A series of resignations at the heart of the British government has followed exposures of the appointment of Peter Mandelson as UK ambassador to the US, intensifying pressure on Prime Minister Keir Starmer. What appears as a scandal over a diplomatic post is at essence part of the broader political crisis centred on decision-making, accountability, and the concentration of authority within Downing Street.

The most senior departure came when Morgan McSweeney resigned as Starmer's chief of staff on February 8, saying he accepted responsibility for advising the prime minister to appoint Mandelson in 2024 despite Mandelson's past association with Jeffrey Epstein, the late US financier and convicted sex offender. McSweeney said the decision had undermined public trust and that stepping down was the "only honourable course". His resignation was widely seen as an attempt to absorb political blame and stabilise the prime minister's office.

The scandal escalated after the Epstein files suggested that Mandelson, while serving as business secretary during the 2008 financial crisis, shared sensitive government information with Epstein. Other documents referred to financial transactions from Epstein to accounts linked to Mandelson in the early 2000s [1]. These disclosures have not yet resulted in criminal charges.

Starmer has acknowledged that the vetting process identified a continuing friendship between Mandelson and Epstein after Epstein's 2008 conviction, but said officials were unaware of its full extent. He apologised for relying on what he described as misleading assurances from Mandelson and promised to release government emails and records relating to the appointment.

Mandelson had been dismissed from his ambassadorial role in September following earlier revelations. While he has not been arrested or charged, the Metropolitan Police have confirmed that they are investigating potential misconduct in public office, though stressing that he is not accused of any sexual offences.

The fallout widened further with the resignation of Tim Allan, Downing Street's director of communications, shortly after McSweeney's departure. Starmer accepted both resignations and praised McSweeney's role in Labour's 2024 election victory. Then on February 12, the prime minister announced that Chris Wormald was stepping down "by mutual consent" after just over a year as cabinet secretary, a civil service post [2]. Together, the departures have been used to reinforce perceptions of instability within No. 10. In an attempt to use the Mandelson affair to undermine the government's senior leadership, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has said responsibility ultimately lies with the prime minister for the appointment.

Beyond its immediate party-political impact, the affair brings to the fore the present state of the arrangements of the British executive. Central to this is the constitutional status of the Downing Street chief of staff. This is a role with no statutory basis and no formally defined responsibilities, deriving its authority from delegation by the prime minister.

The role sits at the centre of No. 10's hybrid structure - simultaneously a political headquarters, policy hub, communications operation, and executive command centre - and involves overseeing the prime minister's private office, controlling the flow of information and access, managing senior political advisers, and aligning party strategy, government messaging, and legislative plans. Working alongside, but not subordinate to, the cabinet secretary, the chief of staff acts as the prime minister's political counterpart to the civil service leadership, coordinating across departments. In a system where power is highly concentrated in Downing Street, the role of the chief of staff has become decisive, and the chief of staff can exert considerable influence over political strategy and senior appointments.

Ambassadorial appointments, for example, are formally made under the royal prerogative, exercised on ministerial advice, typically that of the foreign secretary with close involvement from the prime minister's office. In reality, such advice is developed at the centre of government, where senior political advisers play a key role. These political advisers are not directly accountable to parliament. While parliamentary committees may seek evidence from them, this depends on convention rather than statutory obligation.

The resignation of Tim Allan further highlights the extent to which prime ministers rely on a small, unelected group of senior advisers. Interim replacements were appointed without any prescribed process, parliamentary scrutiny, or publicly defined remit. Authority was transferred through internal political decision rather than constitutional procedure, underlining the informality of power at the centre.

Taken together, the Mandelson affair illustrates how power within the British executive has become concentrated in Downing Street and mediated through advisers rather than ministers or cabinet. As authority is centralised within the prime minister's office, traditional checks and balances associated with the ostensibly collective cabinet government have been long-since removed. Decisions of diplomatic and political consequence can be shaped by individuals who wield significant influence yet bear no direct constitutional responsibility. At the same time, when advisers are presented as bearing responsibility for controversial decisions, they can play the role of scapegoats.

The way these figures exit office highlights the nature of a system in which decision-making is dominated by factional power struggles within an elite centre. These factions share a determination to control the centre of power, even as the resulting disarray stands in stark contradiction to the broader interests of society and the well-being of the people.

In other words, the affair points beyond individual misconduct to the operation of the cartel-party system, a system that is descending into warring factions. Such a system both fosters and feeds off individual corruption: it is generated by concentrated authority and unaccountability, then managed through resignations and internal adjustments that leave the structure itself intact.

It is clear that the people reject this situation. They are striving to find ways to speak and act in their own name and work out the forms of their own decision-making power. They certainly reject the present situation where those who are elected by them and usurp their name are then unaccountable to them, and decision-making at the heart of government goes on behind a veil. The conclusion is that new mechanisms must be brought into being which guarantee the accountability of the elected, the right of all to elect and be elected, and the end of the party-dominated system of government, which is showing itself to be completely dysfunctional. A new authority of the people is required. It is a problem taken up for solution.

Notes
1. Sylvia Hui, "UK leader Starmer's chief of staff quits over Mandelson-Epstein scandal", Associated Press, February 8, 2026
https://apnews.com/article/jeffrey-epstein-britain-keir-starmer-mandelson-c1e5c7654cc9bd48126b9ba3ea6996ef
2. "Wormald would be the third cabinet secretary to be forced out," King's College London professor of government Sir Vernon Bogdanor said. "Before the departure of Sir Mark Sedwill in 2020 it was generally accepted that the cabinet secretary had security of tenure."

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