Starmer facing fresh questions over vetting of ex-communications chief who campaigned for paedophile
The Prime Minister must explain the vetting of his former communications chief's links to a convicted paedophile before he was made a Lord, Kemi Badenoch says.
Listen to this article
Matthew Doyle was made a peer last month, but only after facing opposition from the SNP at the time due to his connection to ex-Labour councillor Sean Morton, who admitted having indecent images of children in November 2017.
Mr Doyle, who served as Sir Keir Starmer's director of communications, reportedly campaigned for Morton when he ran as an independent just months earlier.
The Labour Party suspended Morton after he appeared in court in connection with the offending in late 2016.
The calls come as the Prime Minister faces growing scrutiny of his appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US despite the Labour grandee’s ties to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Read more: Sir Keir Starmer 'sorry for believing Mandelson’s lies' as he fights for his future
Backbenchers have called for either his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney to be sacked or for Sir Keir himself to step down after bombshell revelations about Mandelson’s dealings with the child sex offender.
In a speech on Thursday, the Prime Minister insisted that “none of us knew the depth of the darkness” of the peer’s relationship with Epstein he was appointed ambassador to the US last year.
Police are investigating allegations the peer, who has stepped down from the Lords, passed on market-sensitive information to Epstein when he was business secretary following the 2008 financial crisis.
Mr Doyle himself has said Morton was maintaining his innocence at the time he backed his campaign, and that he regrets supporting him.
However, Tory leader Ms Badenoch has now written to Sir Keir calling on him to publish "vetting advice and due diligence" received ahead of Mr Doyle’s elevation to the Lords and any documents covering his association with Morton.
Ms Badenoch claimed that there was a "pattern of behaviour" of Sir Keir’s office overlooking vetting for men who have "associations with men who have a history of abusing children."
She said she would use "parliamentary means to get to the truth" if the Prime Minister refused to be transparent about his decision to put Mr Doyle in the Lords.
A Downing Street spokesperson said: "Questions regarding Matthew Doyle’s past acquaintance with Sean Morton were thoroughly investigated, including through several interviews with Matthew Doyle, prior to his appointment."
It is understood that Downing Street was satisfied after its consideration that a past acquaintance did not represent a bar to Mr Doyle’s appointment.
Mr Doyle repeated a previous statement on the matter, saying: "Sean Morton was maintaining his innocence at this time.
"I regret supporting him. Sean Morton was someone I knew for a period through other shared acquaintances. I have not seen him for years."