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Minister defends Starmer's under-fire chief of staff
The Independent
|September 25, 2025
A top Labour minister has defended Sir Keir Starmer’s under- fire chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, amid mounting attacks over the failure to declare donations to his Labour Together think tank.
The organisation, where Mr McSweeney was director before coming to work for Sir Keir, was fined by the elections watchdog over its handling of £740,000 donations in 2021. But the Tories claimed a leaked email from a lawyer to Mr McSweeney had sought to mislead the Electoral Commission.
Work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden said yesterday that the Conservatives were targeting Mr McSweeney because he is a "very talented man".
Mr McFadden, who worked closely with Mr McSweeney on Labour's election strategy in the run-up to the 2024 landslide win, said he had full confidence in the No 10 chief of staff.
This story is from the September 25, 2025 edition of The Independent.
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