Starmer urged to appoint woman as first secretary of state to tackle misogyny

Starmer accused of 'stuffing government with hypocrites and paedophile apologists' during Prime Minister's Questions

 Keir Starmer: The prime minister apologised to female Labour parliamentarians for appointing Peter Mandelson as he spoke at a meeting of the women’s Parliamentary Labour Party. Picture: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Keir Starmer has been urged to bring back the post of first secretary of state and appoint a woman to the role as he addressed female Labour MPs on Wednesday.

Labour's Harriet Harman suggested he revive the post, which functions as a de facto deputy prime minister, and task the appointee with tackling misogyny and the marginalisation of women.

The role was previously held by Peter Mandelson under Gordon Brown.

It comes as Starmer was accused of “stuffing government with hypocrites and paedophile apologists” by Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch during Prime Minister’s Questions.

She also accused him of pretending to care about violence against women to “save his own skin” amid simmering discontent amid the fallout from the Mandelson scandal.

The prime minister apologised to female Labour parliamentarians for appointing Mandelson as he spoke at a meeting of the women’s Parliamentary Labour Party.

But he said an apology “must come with action” and that he looks forward to working with them to tackle misogyny and violence against women and girls.

He said more needs to be done to eradicate “structural misogyny” and achieve real cultural change.

One source in the room said his appearance in front of female MPs and peers was “very positive” and Starmer was in “listening mode”.

However, another said the applause was for the women in the room and described the atmosphere as “flat”.

Sir Keir Starmer speaking during Prime Minister’s Questions (House of Commons/PA)

Harman suggested during the meeting that he appoint a female first secretary of state tasked with tackling misogyny and the marginalisation of women to “change the culture” of government, which he said he would consider.

She also proposed Starmer make tackling misogyny a sixth “mission” of his administration.

At Prime Minister’s Questions, Badenoch claimed Starmer's decision over Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador was not an “isolated” one.

She said: “The Mandelson episode was not an isolated incident. A few weeks ago he announced a peerage for one Matthew Doyle, his former director of communications.

“Immediately after that, the Sunday Times published on the front page that Doyle campaigned for a man charged with child sex offences, yet despite the Prime Minister knowing this, he gave Doyle a job for life in the House of Lords anyway. Why?”

Conservative party leader Kemi Badenoch speaking during Prime Minister’s Questions (House of Commons/PA)

In his response, Starmer said: “Matthew Doyle did not give a full account of his actions. I promised my party and my country there will be change, and yesterday I removed the whip from Matthew Doyle.”

Doyle has had the Labour whip removed, but calls continue for him to lose his peerage, including from Labour Party chairwoman Anna Turley.

He apologised for campaigning for Sean Morton in 2017 after Morton had been charged over indecent images of children.

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said: “To appoint one paedophile supporter cannot be excused as ‘misfortune’. To appoint two shows a catastrophic lack of judgment.”

SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn said Starmer “appears to be the most gullible former director of public prosecutions in history”.

Stephen Flynn said the Prime Minister appears to be gullible (House of Commons/PA)

Earlier in the session, Mrs Badenoch said: “The prime minister sometimes likes to claim, as he just did, that he cares about violence against women. The truth is, he only cares about the victims when he’s trying to save his own skin.”

Starmer said he would take “no lectures from the Tories” on standards in public life, pointing to partygate and former shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick’s comments “about not seeing enough white faces in Birmingham”.

Badenoch hit back saying: “How dare he criticise us. We weren’t the ones stuffing government with hypocrites and paedophile apologists.

“He can’t build a team, he has no plan, he can’t even run his own office, let alone the country. He is now dealing with a new scandal of appointing someone who campaigned for a man convicted of having indecent pictures of girls as young as 10. Isn’t the prime minister ashamed that that would be his legacy?”

Starmer replied: “My legacy is changing my party and winning a general election.”

Downing Street rejected suggestions that it had been run as a “boys’ club”, and the prime minister’s spokesman said he did not accept he had failed to fulfil his promise to end sleaze.

Starmer has insisted his top team is “strong and united” after cabinet ministers rallied around him with public messages of support following Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar’s call for him to quit.

At Tuesday’s political Cabinet meeting he said his government should be “acting together” over the release of files on Mandelson after health secretary Wes Streeting published his exchanges with the former ambassador.

Starmer expressed his “100%” support for Sarwar, who had cited concern that the “distraction” from Downing Street would harm the party’s chances of unseating the SNP in May’s Holyrood elections.

In Wales, Labour first minister Eluned Morgan insisted Starmer had her “full confidence”, while Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, seen as a potential challenger for the Labour leadership, declared his support but said he had spoken to Starmer about the party needing a “strong sense of a stronger team again”.

Starmer is expected to continue efforts to shake up his No 10 operation, with the country’s top civil servant Chris Wormald rumoured to be on his way out in the coming days.

The prime minister’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney and communications chief Tim Allan have already departed as he seeks to revive his fortunes after a bruising start to 2026.