Editorial: Keir Starmer should be gone as prime minister but there is no plausible successor to him

By many accounts, ​Morgan McSweeney is the man who has helped Keir Starmer govern as a relatively moderate prime minister.

​Many of Sir Keir’s instincts are to the left of the political spectrum, but when he was tried to govern in that way he has been forced into humiliating policy u-turns, such as on radical new employment rights from the first day someone gets a job. When, on the other hand, he has tried to govern in a more moderate way – such as on benefits – he has been forced to reverse course too.

Mr McSweeney, however, possesses political instincts that Sir Keir does not naturally have – the prime minister came to politics late in his career and often has not seemed to have a feel for it .

Now Mr McSweeney is gone over the saga around Peter Mandelson, the former Northern Ireland secretary, being appointed UK ambassador the US. He has taken responsibility for that move, and is out while Sir Keir stays.

This is very unlikely to be the end of the matter as far as the prime minister is concerned. Mr Mandelson is a very able PR person, politician and indeed diplomat so it is no surprise Labour wanted to use him. But his money weakness was long obvious, as seemingly confirmed in the Epstein saga, and the clear suggestion that he was prepared to compromise national secrets at a time of financial crisis in order to brief a shady billionaire, who was also by that stage a convicted sex offender.

While unionist politicians are rightly saying that Sir Keir is ultimately responsible for this colossal misjudgement around Mr Mandelson, he is currently remaining in place largely because Labour knows that it has no obvious successor.

It is unionists above all who should be concerned about this. The idea that Angela Rayner will be a good PM with regard to Northern Ireland is risible. Sir Keir, however, has shown he is not up to being premier either.