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Downing Street director of communications Tim Allan has stepped down as a scandal over Sir Keir Starmer’s appointment of Lord Peter Mandelson as US ambassador threatens to engulf his premiership.
Starmer has come under increasing pressure over the past week following revelations about Mandelson’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein as part of the US Department of Justice’s release of millions of files relating to the late sex offender.
Allan’s departure comes a day after Starmer’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney resigned, saying he took full responsibility for advising the prime minister to appoint Mandelson as envoy to the US.
Mandelson himself was sacked in September.
Allan said: “I have decided to stand down to allow a new No10 team to be built. I wish the PM and his team every success.”
Allan, a Blair-era veteran and founder of the communications agency Portland, had only taken up his post in September.
This is a developing story