McSweeney will not face new donations inquiry - watchdog

Morgan McSweeney, the prime minister's beleaguered chief of staff, will not face another investigation into undeclared donations to the Labour Together thinktank, the elections watchdog has said.

- Rowena Mason Whitehall editor

The Electoral Commission said it had found “no evidence of any other potential offences” by the thinktank formerly led by McSweeney, which was previously fined in 2021.

The Conservatives had asked for a new inquiry, claiming leaked emails showed that McSweeney deliberately attempted to cover up the late reporting of donations as an administrative error when he ran Labour Together.

The decision will come as a relief to Keir Starmer, as the Tories had claimed that the leaked emails cast doubt over McSweeney's position as chief of staff.

Starmer has seen a large degree of churn among his senior allies recently, including losing two directors of communications, James Lyons and Steph Driver, his director of political strategy, Paul Ovenden, and his policy chief, Liz Lloyd.