The dominoes continue to fall inside No. 10, with senior advisers leaving in rapid succession and Labour backbenchers increasingly vocal about the leadership’s grip on events. McSweeney’s exit, described by insiders as both abrupt and deeply destabilising, has intensified speculation about deeper structural issues within the Prime Minister’s operation raising fresh questions about Keir Starmer’s ability to maintain control of his senior team.

Keir Starmer’s director of communications, Tim Allan, resigned on Monday morning, just five months after taking up the role. His departure came less than 24 hours after Morgan McSweeney was forced out over the Mandelson–Epstein scandal, deepening the crisis inside No. 10. Allan, a former adviser to Tony Blair, was brought in to steady the ship but became the fourth comms chief to exit in Starmer’s 19 months as Prime Minister. In his statement, Allan said he was stepping down “to allow a new Number 10 team to be built,” as pressure mounts on Starmer to explain the appointments and fallout surrounding Lord Mandelson’s brief tenure as ambassador to the US

Political analysts note that the loss of a Chief of Staff rarely occurs in isolation. Instead, it often signals wider dysfunction and in this case, it has heightened existing anxieties about communication failures, strategic misalignment, and the government’s capacity to respond to mounting crises. With the Scottish Labour leader and several Westminster MPs now urging Starmer to confront the turmoil directly, the sense of a leadership under strain is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.

Downing Street maintains that the Prime Minister remains focused on governing, but with confidence wavering and the pace of resignations accelerating, the question now is whether Starmer can reassert authority or whether this moment marks the beginning of a deeper political unraveling.