In the midst of a turbulent week for his party and his government, Keir Starmer faced the Women’s Parliamentary Labour Party this afternoon. The government has been under intense scrutiny following new revelations about the nature of the former US Ambassador Peter Mandelson’s relationship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. And in the past 24 hours, the Prime Minister has once again come under similar pressure over the elevation to the House of Lords of his former Director of Communications, Matthew Doyle. Reporting by the Sunday Times revealed in December that Doyle had campaigned for a known paedophile. (On Monday night, the Labour Party removed the whip from Doyle. He still has his peerage.)
These incidents have renewed the focus on accusations of a “boys club” culture within Number 10 and the wider Labour Party which has concerned female Labour MPs in particular. This meeting of the Prime Minister and the Women’s PLP was a chance for those concerns to be aired and for the Prime Minister to offer a response. According to an MP in the room, the meeting was “constructive”, while another said it was “really positive”. Starmer thanked the Women’s PLP for inviting him to the meeting, before reiterating his apology for the appointment of Mandelson as ambassador to the US. He told MPs in the room that an apology must come with action and said he looked forward to working with the Women’s PLP on jointly tackling misogyny and violence against women and girls.
In questions following his speech, Harriet Harman, the former acting leader of the Labour Party and now a Labour peer called on the PM to reintroduce the position of First Secretary of State. This position – which was last held by Dominic Raab – is used to designate the second most senior member of the government (it differs slightly from Deputy Prime Minister, the role which is currently held by David Lammy). Harman said the role should be held by a woman in order to “tackle misogyny in public life”. One MP described Harman’s intervention as “upping the ante”.
Harman – who was the first ever Minister for Women, under Tony Blair – also encouraged the Prime Minister to introduce a sixth mission to tackle misogyny and sexism. One MP told the New Statesman Harman’s intervention received a “strong endorsement” from within the room. (According to one MP in the room, the only time Mandelson was mentioned was when Harman pointed out that he had been the last Labour MP to hold the position of First Secretary of State).
Polly Billington, the MP for East Thanet also spoke – Billington told the BBC’s World at One programme the resignation of both his chief of staff and director of communications gives Starmer a real opportunity to move away from the widespread sense of a boys club within the party.
Speaking to journalists outside of the meeting, Natalie Fleet, the Labour MP for Bolsover was adamant in her support for the Prime Minister. She said the past week has been one of the worst she has had in Westminster and added that everyone in the room was “really supportive of the Prime Minister”. Fleet said: “Keir Starmer has spent his career fighting for women and girls. This is who he is.” During the meeting, Fleet called for a national inquiry into the crimes of Mohamed Al Fayed, the former owner of Harrods. She told the PM that victims had written to No 10, but had received no reply.
Last year, Fleet spearheaded a campaign to amend the Victims and Courts bill so that parental responsibility is automatically restricted if a child is born of rape. In an interview shortly after she was elected in 2024, she shared that became pregnant as a teenager after she was groomed and raped by a much older man. She told gathered journalists that it is vitally important MPs use their position to enact change for victims. “When we have the PM on our side we are really fucking powerful,” she said, “we want the government to succeed”.
But it was not all rosy. Some women MPs were so disillusioned with the government that they stayed away altogether. One MP told the New Statesman she wouldn’t be attending as she “can’t handle the gaslighting operation and the weaponisation of victims to back cover”.
Starmer left the meeting, flanked by the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, Lucy Powell. One observer noted that the applause he had received at this meeting was not quite as rapturous as that which he had received at Monday evening’s meeting of the full PLP. The appointment of two female joint chiefs of staff, and suggestions of an incoming female Cabinet Secretary have certainly gone some way among MPs to show a willingness and knowledge of the need for change in Number 10. The Prime Minister has certainly weathered this particular storm, for now.
[Further reading: How the Epstein story sidelines women]
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