Crisis for PM grows as aide quits over lewd remarks about Abbott

Resignation of key ally piles pressure on Starmer as Trump flies into UK

- Kiran Stacey, Jessica Elgot

The crisis engulfing Keir Starmer has deepened on the eve of Donald Trump's visit to the UK after the resignation of a third senior ally in two weeks raised further questions about the stability of his government.

Paul Ovenden quit as the prime minister's director of political strategy after the publication of old WhatsApp messages in which Ovenden relayed lewd jokes made at a party about the Labour MP Diane Abbott.

His resignation comes after a bruising two weeks in which Starmer has overseen the departures of his deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, and his US ambassador, Peter Mandelson.

Starmer has also come under pressure from his own MPs after what was deemed to be a weak response from the government to the mass far-right rally in London at the weekend.

The prime minister responded to the rally by saying there could be "no surrender" to racism and violence.

Several cabinet members including Wes Streeting echoed these sentiments. But tensions over the march have raised fears among many Labour MPs about whether the government is "meeting the moment" in what some have called a "progressive emergency".

The turmoil surrounding Starmer's leadership has prompted Labour MPs to begin talking openly about the prospect of replacing him before the next election, and possibly even in the next few months.

The prime minister was hoping to use the US president's state visit, which begins today, as a platform to refocus attention on his economic and foreign policy agenda.

Instead Trump will arrive to meet a prime minister under criticism from the right and left of the party, with allies of alternative leaders talking up their candidates' prospects.