Morgan McSweeney was not the first person I’d think of to handle my PR if I were ever thrust into public life. The former chief of staff to Keir Starmer has endured a rather bruising year of PR himself – while doing little to improve the former prime minister’s fortunes during his final days in government.

McSweeney dramatically quit as Keir Starmer’s chief of staff following overwhelming scrutiny regarding his role in Lord Mandelson’s appointment as UK’s ambassador to the US. This erupted as a scandal after it was revealed that Mandelson had failed the developed vetting process, and that McSweeney had pressured the Foreign Office into clearing the disgraced Labour peer for the role.  

He said in his resignation statement earlier this year: “The decision to appoint Peter Mandelson was wrong. He has damaged our party, our country and trust in politics itself. When asked, I advised the prime minister to make that appointment, and I take full responsibility for that advice.” 

Speaking last month for the first time since his resignation in February, McSweeney said he intended to “move on to a new chapter in my life”.  

Now, the former strategist has opened his own firm – McSweeney Advisory Ltd. It is owned solely by him, and he is the only director. The firm is registered to a chartered accountant’s address in Edinburgh. The firm will offer advice on public relations and communications.  

“He has showcased his talent for reputation management before”

Despite the controversy that has surrounded McSweeney this year, there could be a bright future for the strategist in PR. After all, he has showcased his talent for reputation management before. For instance, he was widely credited with shaping Labour’s winning general election campaign in 2024. He also co-founded Labour Together to help rebuild the party after it suffered a heavy defeat in 2019, and carefully vetted parliamentary candidates to push the party toward the political centre and end the unsuccessful Corbynite era.  

McSweeney has said that he wants to go “in a completely different direction” professionally and that he has no plans to return to politics for the foreseeable. He said “I mean, I can’t say forever, but certainly for the next few years I’m committing to being out of politics for the next few years ahead.” 

Regarding his tenure at Number 10, he told the BBC: “I think that we didn’t prepare enough for what kind of world we were going to be in. 

“We are now in a very different era than when Labour was last in government, and I think we didn’t have enough conversations at the top of the party about what that meant, how to prepare for it, what that meant for the state, how the state needed to be reformed, because in lots of ways the state is really out of shape and is unable to deliver for people. 

“You have to deliver quite quickly for people for them to see the change quickly, and I think we didn’t come in with enough of a theory about how we would do that, and why that was important.” 

However, he is fairly optimistic about Burnham. He previously told the Guardian: “If at the top of government there are people who don’t just have a desk somewhere outside London, but actually live their whole lives outside of London, I think that will be a good thing 

“A lot of people won’t like it. I think it’s a good idea. I think he should just push it through, the logistics can be sorted out.” 

There is no doubt, the 49-year-old will one day re-debut in British politics. However, he has decided that in the meantime his next chapter lies in PR. What clients he will attract is uncertain. However, his ruthlessness, talent and strategy are both admired and feared – so perhaps he can still orchestrate change but this time out of the limelight.