A series of leaked messages which caused a senior aide to Sir Keir Starmer to resign will be followed by further disclosures likely to cause upheaval within the Government, the author of a new book has said.
Paul Ovenden quit his role as No 10’s director of strategy on Monday, after messages from 2017 came to light in which he made derogatory sexual remarks about veteran left wing MP Diane Abbott.
The top aide, said to be among those closest to the Prime Minister, was the third figure at the heart of Government to have made an exit in recent weeks, following Angela Rayner and Lord Peter Mandelson.
The messages which led to Mr Ovenden’s exit, sent via internal Labour Party communications, are among the details to appear in a new book, Keir Starmer, Morgan McSweeney, and the Crisis of British Democracy, to be published next month.
Paul Holden, the book’s author, told the PA news agency that “a lot more revelations” about senior figures at the heart of Sir Keir’s Government will come to light as a result of its publication.
Asked if he thought it had the potential to lead to further resignations, investigative journalist Mr Holden told PA: “I’m not going to stake my reputation on that. I don’t know if more resignations are on the way. But there is definitely a lot more revelations on the way.”
While he said he would not “name names” ahead of publication, Mr Holden added: “This is a book about a pretty narrow political project, but a narrow political project that now occupies some of the most powerful positions in the country.
“It touches on a lot of people in Government, in Cabinet, and advisers in No 10.”
Mr Holden, who moved to the UK 15 years ago from South Africa, has previously written books on Government-linked corruption in his home country.
He used the same “forensic lens” as in his previous work to research internal Labour politics, which he started working on several years ago.
Mr Holden said the book demonstrates that he is “sympathetic to the soft left and the left”, but added: “I don’t know how I place my politics exactly.”
According to the website of publisher OR Books, The Fraud will show “how Starmer has been the frontman for a ruthless, right-wing political project headed by Morgan McSweeney, now chief of staff in Number 10 and arguably the most powerful man in Britain”.
