by Bill Heaney
Sir Keir Starmer’s former communications chief Lord Matthew Doyle has apologised for his past association with a paedophile councillor and said he will not be taking the Labour whip.
Lord Doyle campaigned for Sean Morton when he ran as an Independent in May 2017.
Mr Morton admitted having indecent images of children later that year.
Lord Doyle said: “I want to apologise for my past association with Sean Morton. His offences were vile and I completely condemn the actions for which he was rightly convicted. My thoughts are with the victims and all those impacted by these crimes.
“At the point of my campaigning support, Morton repeatedly asserted to all those who knew him his innocence, including initially in court. He later changed his plea in court to guilty.
He added: “Those of us who took him at his word were clearly mistaken.
“I have never sought to dismiss or diminish the seriousness of the offences for which he was rightly convicted. They are clearly abhorrent and I have never questioned his conviction.
“Following his conviction any contact was extremely limited and I have not seen or spoken to him in years. Twice I was at events organised by other people, which he attended, and once I saw him to check on his welfare after concerns were raised through others.
“I acted to try to ensure the welfare of a troubled individual whilst fully condemning the crimes for which he has been convicted and being clear that my thoughts are with the victims of his crimes.
“I am sorry about the mistakes I have made. I will not be taking the Labour whip.
Meanwhile, things turned from bad to worse for Scottish Labour when the whip in the Scottish Parliament was finally removed from MSP Pam Duncan-Glancy, right, while the party investigates her links with a convicted sex offender.
She stood down as her party’s education spokesperson in December and said she would leave Holyrood in May after revelations about her friendship with former Moray councillor Sean Morton.
This followed hard on the heels of the news that Labour had removed the whip in the House of Lords from new peer Matthew Doyle, Sir Keir Starmer’s former director of communications, to allow an investigation into his links to Morton.
A Scottish Labour spokesperson said: “All complaints are assessed thoroughly in line with our rules and procedures.”ks to sex offender
In December Duncan-Glancy admitted a “serious error of personal judgement” after it emerged she maintained contact with the sleazebag Morton following his 2017 conviction which involved indecent images of children.
She had been selected as a Glasgow candidate for this May’s Holyrood election, but said she would not now be seeking re-election.
It has been widely reported that Duncan-Glancy continued her friendship with Morton, a former Labour councillor, after he was jailed for 16 months in January 2025 for further offences and that late last year he attended her birthday celebration.
The pair are reported to have known each other for more than 30 years, having met at high school.
Scottish Labour suspended Duncan-Glancy just hours after similar action was announced against Lord Doyle over his links to Morton.
Both Scottish Labour and the UK operation use the same independent complaints procedures, and both cases were being looked at.
It has emerged that Lord Doyle campaigned for Morton when he ran as an independent candidate in 2017, when he had been charged but not yet convicted.
In a statement he said Morton had repeatedly asserted his innocence at the time and only later changed his plea to guilty.
He added: “To have not ceased support ahead of a judicial conclusion was a clear error of judgement for which I apologise unreservedly.”
The Labour veteran who had previously worked with Tony Blair was appointed as the prime minister’s director of communications but resigned last March, after nine months in the job.
His elevation to the House of Lords was announced only a few weeks ago.
Andrew Kerr, a BBC political correspondent, has analysed on-line these happenings on-line.
He wrote: “The suspension of Pam Duncan-Glancy lances a boil, at least in part, for the embattled Scottish Labour leader.
“Anas Sarwar had been facing repeated questions since late last year over why his former education spokesperson was allowed to retain the Labour whip.
“Tomorrow, at Holyrood, he was bound to be asked by journalists firstly if he had made an error of judgement in calling for the prime minister to quit and secondly if it was right that Duncan-Glancy was allowed to be a Labour MSP?
“Sarwar’s answer that Duncan-Glancy was only around for a matter of weeks after announcing she wouldn’t seek re-election didn’t cut the mustard – with the SNP repeatedly pressing that point home.
“Now it looks like internal party wheels have been turning which has also resulted in the suspension of Lord Doyle over his links with the same man.
“It is a bit of a party mystery why these suspensions have taken so long to enact – and why Lord Doyle is facing this just five weeks after being made a peer despite concerns being raised.”