More trouble for Starmer, top aide resigns over his sexually explicit messages about Diane Abbott

One of UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s top aides, Paul Ovenden, has resigned after it emerged he had exchanged sexually explicit messages about the veteran left-wing MP Diane Abbott. In a fresh blow to the beleaguered prime minister, Ovenden announced he was leaving his role as Downing Street’s director of strategy to avoid becoming a “distraction” after his 2017 messages became public. Ovenden, a former journalist, has worked for Labour for more than a decade and had reportedly exchanged emails with a colleague at the time that included sexually explicit remarks about Abbott. Ovenden is not well known, but commentators familiar with the workings of Downing Street say his departure is highly significant. He was seen as one of the key figures in the operation.

Ovenden’s exit comes after Angela Rayner quit this month and Peter Mandelson was sacked last week as Britain’s ambassador to the US.

The sequence of events piles pressure on the prime minister, who is facing the ire of Labour backbenchers over his leadership as the party has been consistently lagging behind Reform UK in polls. There are speculations that he could be forced out after May’s local elections if the results are as bad for Labour as expected, said a Guardian report.

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“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,” Ovenden told ITV News.

“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,” he added.

“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,” he added.

‘Appalling and unacceptable messages,’ says govt spokesperson

Meanwhile, a government spokesperson called the messages appalling and unacceptable.

Diane Abbott, the first black woman to be elected to parliament, is a trailblazer who has faced horrendous abuse throughout her political career. These kinds of comments have no place in our politics, the spokesperson added.

Abbott is currently sitting as an independent after she was suspended by Labour for standing by a controversial letter she wrote in 2023 comparing different types of racism based on colour. She was suspended from the parliamentary Labour Party in 2023 after writing the letter to The Observer.

She apologised for any anguish caused by the remarks and was readmitted to the party before the 2024 general election.

She has been a critic of Starmer’s leadership and has joined Labour MPs in warning that May’s local elections are a make-or-break moment for the PM.