Keir Starmer’s longstanding communications chief has been suspended from the Labour whip in his new role in the Lords after it emerged that he had campaigned on behalf of a friend who had been charged with possessing indecent images of children.
Matthew Doyle, who stepped down as the No 10 head of communications last March and was made a peer in December, said in a statement that he apologised for his links to Sean Morton, a former Labour councillor in Scotland who was convicted in 2018 of possessing the images.
It is another embarrassment for Starmer, after a continuing controversy about the decision to make Peter Mandelson ambassador to Washington despite his close links to Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender.
Doyle, who worked for Starmer in opposition and was one of the prime minister’s longest-standing aides, has had the Labour whip removed in the Lords.
He faced pressure after the Sunday Times reported on his support for Morton even when the councillor had been charged in 2016.
According to the paper, after Morton was charged and suspended by Labour, Doyle insisted Morton was innocent and travelled to Scotland to support him as he stood as an independent candidate wearing a top with the slogan, “Re-elect Sean Morton”.
It is understood that Starmer wanted the issue looked at again, after the reports, and that he and Downing Street say they did not know that Doyle had campaigned for Morton before he was made a peer.
Meanwhile, Scottish Labour suspended the party whip of MSP Pam Duncan-Glancy, who stepped down as education spokesperson in December after disclosures about her friendship with Morton.
She said she would quit the Scottish parliament in May, adding: “While this has obviously been a very difficult decision, and it is the greatest honour of my life to represent Glasgow, I do not wish for a personal friendship to become a distraction.”
SNP MSP Rona Mackay had earlier called on Anas Sarwar to suspend Duncan-Glancy, saying: “There is no excuse left for Anas Sarwar’s hypocrisy and failure to act over one of his own MSPs, who maintained much closer links to the twice-convicted paedophile, and still refuses to say whether those links continue to this day.”
Morton lost the election, and in 2018 he admitted a charge of possessing indecent images of children, as well as a charge connected to extreme pornography. He was sentenced to a community payback order, and placed on the sex offender register.
In his statement, Doyle said: “I want to apologise for my past association with Sean Morton. His offences were vile and I completely condemn the actions for which he was rightly convicted. My thoughts are with the victims and all those impacted by these crimes.
“At the point of my campaigning support, Morton repeatedly asserted to all those who knew him his innocence, including initially in court. He later changed his plea in court to guilty. To have not ceased support ahead of a judicial conclusion was a clear error of judgment for which I apologise unreservedly.”
Doyle said he had “extremely limited” subsequent contact with Morton, and had “not seen or spoken to him in years”. Doyle said he had seen Morton once “to check on his welfare after concerns were raised through others”.
He added: “I am sorry about the mistakes I have made. I will not be taking the Labour whip.”
Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, said: “Keir Starmer handed a peerage to Matthew Doyle despite knowing about his ongoing friendship with a man charged with child sex crimes.
“The prime minister has now suspended the whip, but he must come clean about what he was told before making this appointment. We won’t let this go.”
Starmer has denied claims that he knew about Doyle’s relationship with Morton.
Regarding Duncan-Glancy, a Scottish Labour spokesperson, said: “All complaints are assessed thoroughly in line with our rules and procedures.”
