COVENTRY MESSAGE BOARD

No 10’s director of strategy resigns after lewd email exchange with former colleague about veteran Labour MP



One of Sir Keir Starmer’s top aides has resigned after making sexually explicit comments about Diane Abbott.

Paul Ovenden was the director of strategy for No 10 and an ally of the Prime Minister and Morgan McSweeney, Sir Keir’s chief of staff.

Mr Ovenden quit after an email exchange with a former colleague from 2017 came to light about a game of “shag, marry, kill” that he had overheard.

He recounted a conversation in which two women explicitly described how they would sleep with the veteran Labour MP.

It is the third significant departure from Sir Keir’s administration following the sacking of Lord Mandelson and Angela Rayner’s resignation.

The messages were reportedly sent by Mr Ovenden to a Labour staff member on the party’s internal instant messaging system.

It is understood that the employee Mr Ovenden was talking to in the messages is no longer working in politics.

At the time, Mr Ovenden was a press officer for Labour under Jeremy Corbyn. Later that year, he left politics to work in communications consultancy, before returning to the party in 2020.

Ms Abbott was the shadow home secretary at the time, and remained in the role until Mr Corbyn resigned as party leader.

Zarah Sultana, a former Labour MP who was suspended from the party and has joined forces with Mr Corbyn, said the incident was more evidence that Sir Keir’s team had a problem with women.

She said: “Everyone knows about the macho boys’ club Starmer surrounds himself with.

“So it’s no surprise to see vile, misogynistic comments from one of his top aides. This Labour Government is rotten to the core.”

Mish Rahman, an anti-racism campaigner and former member of Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC), said Mr Ovenden’s comments were “vile and grotesque”.

He said he was aware of the messages before the general election, and had provided a comment about them to the BBC.

“These are the kind of racist and sexist attitudes in Starmer’s top team which have led to the targeting of women of colour on the Left of the party,” he said.