Top Starmer strategy chief quits over probe into X-rated messages about Diane Abbott
Paul Ovenden quit his role as Director of Strategy in No10 after the exchanges from 2017 were uncovered
One of Sir Keir Starmer's top aides has resigned after leaked emails revealed he had sent sexually explicit messages referring to Diane Abbott.
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Paul Ovenden quit his role as No.10's Director of Strategy after the exchanges from 2017 were uncovered.
The former newspaper journalist, who began working for Labour in 2014, stepped down after leaked emails showed him discussing Ms Abbott, 71, in derogatory sexual terms with a former colleague.
He graphically recounted a story about a game of 'shag, marry, kill' played with his Labour colleagues, before going into explicit detail about a conversation in which two women described performing sex acts on the veteran MP.
Mr Ovenden was one of a handful of top aides to the Prime Minister, earning between £115,000-£120,000 a year in Downing Street and working closely with Morgan McSweeney, the PM's Chief of Staff.
His resignation is the latest hammer blow to Starmer's premiership, with the PM already under pressure after losing two of his key figures - his deputy Angela Rayner and Lord Mandelson, his US ambassador - to scandals in recent weeks.
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Mr Overton announced he was resigning today to avoid becoming "a distraction".
He said: "I am accused of eight years ago as a junior press officer sharing with a female colleague the details of a silly conversation that I was party to with other female staff members.
"Before summer, I had announced to some of my colleagues my intention to leave government. Though the messages long pre-date my current employment and relationship with the Prime Minister, I’ve brought forward my resignation to avoid distracting from the vital work this government is doing to positively change people’s lives.
"As an advisor, my duty is to protect the reputation of the Prime Minister and his government.
"While it is chilling that a private conversation from nearly a decade ago can do this sort of damage, I am also truly, deeply sorry for it and the hurt it will cause."
The leaked messages, which were sent on the Labour Party’s internal instant messaging system, date back to 2017 when Mr Ovenden was employed as a Labour Party press officer during Jeremy Corbyn's leadership.
The party had introduced a member’s pledge and a social media code of conduct in 2016, which stated members must treat people with ‘dignity and respect’ online and offline, and that ‘the use of sexualised language or imagery’ is unacceptable.
Mr Ovenden later left his role as press officer to join a communications firm, but returned to the party to become Labour’s Director of Communications after Keir Starmer was elected leader.
After Labour 2024 election victory, he was appointed as one of the PM's top aides, analysing voter trends and opinions to shape speeches, policy and media strategy.
Ms Abbott is the longest-serving female MP and became the first black woman elected in Parliament in 1987.
The former shadow Home Secretary has had a strained relationship with Sir Keir since he became party leader.
In 2023, she was suspended over comments about racism, but was readmitted ahead of the 2024 general election after she apologised.
However, she was suspended earlier this year and currently sits in the House of Commons as an independent MP.
Mr Ovenden's resignation is the latest setback for the Prime Minister, who has faced a turbulent weeks since returning from summer recess.
He was forced to sack Lord Mandelson last Thursday after emails were published showing he had sent supportive messages to Jeffrey Epstein, even as the paedophile faced jail for sex offences.
Sir Keir has faced criticism after he gave public backing to Lord Mandelson at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, only to sack him the following day.
The Prime Minister told broadcasters on Monday that Lord Mandelson went through a proper due diligence process before his appointment.
But he added: "Had I known then what I know now, I’d have never appointed him."
The Prime Minister said he was not satisfied with Lord Mandelson’s responses to questions asked by officials about the correspondence with Epstein.
Emails published by Bloomberg included passages in which Lord Mandelson told Epstein to “fight for early release” shortly before he was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
He is also reported to have told Epstein “I think the world of you” the day before the disgraced financier began his sentence for soliciting prostitution from a minor in June 2008.
Sir Keir was aware when he stood up at Prime Minister’s Questions that further revelations were due about Lord Mandelson, because the then ambassador had acknowledged “very embarrassing” messages would surface.
The Prime Minister also knew the Foreign Office had asked Lord Mandelson questions about them, but he insisted he did not know about the content of the emails – or Lord Mandelson’s response to the official inquiries – until Wednesday night.
Sir Keir said: “What emerged last week were emails, Bloomberg emails which showed that the nature and extent of the relationship that Peter Mandelson had with Epstein was far different to what I had understood to be the position when I appointed him.
“On top of that, what the email showed was he was not only questioning but wanting to challenge the conviction of Epstein at the time that for me, went and cut across the whole approach that I’ve taken on violence against women and girls for many years, and this Government’s approach.
"On top of that, what emerged last week, on Wednesday evening late, were Peter Mandelson’s responses to questions that have been put to him by Government officials. I looked at those responses, and I did not find them at all satisfying.
"And therefore, on the basis of those three things – the nature and extent of the relationship being far different to what I’d understood to be the position at the point of appointment, the questioning and challenging of the conviction, which, as I say, goes to the heart and cuts across what this Government is doing on violence against women and girls and the unsatisfactory nature of responses from Peter Mandelson last week to the inquires made of him by Government officials – I took the decision to remove him.”