Olly Robbins is just the latest: a guide to the high-profile exits under Starmer’s tenure

The exit of the top civil servant Olly Robbins from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is the latest departure of an official or minister under Keir Starmer’s two-year tenure as prime minister. Here we take a look at some of the most high-profile resignations since Starmer came to power.

Officials

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   Sue Gray

   Gray was the prime minister’s chief of staff from July to October 2024. She became a household name when, as second permanent secretary to the Cabinet Office, she investigated the Partygate scandal. Her subsequent criticism of the government led by Boris Johnson ultimately contributed to his resignation

   

   Sue Gray. Photograph: Charles McQuillan/Getty Images

   Sue Gray resigned from her position as Starmer’s chief of staff in October 2024 after finding herself at the centre of a political storm since Labour came to power in July.

   Gray had been blamed by some Labour figures for the party’s inability to avoid the so-called freebies scandal, with some claiming she lacked “political experience”, even though she undoubtedly knew exactly how the civil service worked. Her salary had been leaked to the press, revealing she was being paid £3,000 more than the prime minister, which prompted a huge backlash among advisers.

   She was also blamed for the lower pay that special advisers receive in comparison with Conservative-era aides, prompting many Labour advisers to join a union over their concerns.

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   Morgan McSweeney

   McSweeney served as the prime minister’s chief of staff from October 2024 to February 2026, stepping in after Gray’s departure. Among numerous roles with the Labour party, he was previously the campaign director during the successful 2024 general election

   

   Morgan McSweeney. Photograph: Thomas Krych/Story Picture Agency/Shutterstock

   Morgan McSweeney quit as chief of staff amid anger over the appointment of Peter Mandelson as US ambassador. His position had grown increasingly untenable after the release of emails underlining the extent of Mandelson’s continuing relationship with the convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

   McSweeney resigned in February, saying he took “full responsibility” for advising Starmer to appoint Mandelson, who had been a close ally and political mentor.

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   Chris Wormald

   Wormald was cabinet secretary and head of the civil service from 2024 to 2026

   

   Chris Wormald. Photograph: Zuma Press/Alamy

   The Mandelson-Epstein scandal claimed another role in February, with Starmer effectively forcing out Chris Wormald from his position as cabinet secretary.

   The prime minister announced that Wormald was stepping down “by mutual consent”.

   Wormald reportedly lost Starmer’s confidence over the process that led to Mandelson’s approval for the role of ambassador, and for not having been proactive enough in driving through civil service reform.

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   Olly Robbins

   Robbins was the permanent secretary at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office from 2025 to 2026. The senior civil servant has held a number of roles, including chief Brexit negotiator from 2017 to 2019

   

   Olly Robbins. Photograph: Mark Kerrison/Alamy

   Olly Robbins was forced out of his post on Thursday after it emerged his department had overruled the decision to fail Peter Mandelson during his security vetting.

   Robbins was the Foreign Office’s most senior official in late January 2025 when the decision was made, paving the way for Mandelson to become the US ambassador.

   The Guardian understands that Robbins was told he had to resign after the prime minister and the current foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, lost confidence in him.

Ministers

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   Angela Rayner

   Rayner was deputy prime minister from July 2024 to September 2025. The MP for Ashton-under-Lyne also served as housing secretary and deputy leader of the Labour party

   

   Angela Rayner. Photograph: Ryan Jenkinson/Getty Images

   Angela Rayner stood down from the government after the prime minister’s ethics adviser found she had breached the ministerial code over her underpayment of stamp duty on her £800,000 seaside flat.

   Laurie Magnus found that Rayner had “acted with integrity and with a dedicated and exemplary commitment to public service” but concluded she had breached the ministerial code over her tax affairs.

   Her departure was deeply damaging for the prime minister, who initially stood firmly by her, and his authority was badly bruised as a result.

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   Josh Simons

   Simons was a Cabinet Office minister from September 2025 to February 2026. He first became an MP in July 2024, representing Makerfield

   

   Josh Simons. Photograph: Labour Together

   Josh Simons resigned from the government after the Guardian revealed that he had falsely linked reporters to a “pro-Kremlin” network in emails to GCHQ, despite having claimed to be “surprised” and “furious” about a PR firm’s investigation into their journalism.

   Simons, who had been a Cabinet Office minister, previously ran the thinktank Labour Together. He quit on 28 February, saying his position in office had become “a distraction from this government’s important work”.

   The Makerfield MP had faced mounting pressure over his role in Labour Together’s commissioning of the lobbying and public affairs agency APCO to investigate journalists reporting on the thinktank’s failure to disclose political donations.

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   Tulip Siddiq

   Siddiq was economic secretary to the Treasury from July 2024 to January 2025. The MP for Hampstead and Highgate since 2015, she held shadow roles for Jeremy Corbyn and Starmer when they were leaders of the opposition

   

   Tulip Siddiq. Photograph: Victoria Jones/PA

   Tulip Siddiq resigned in January 2025 as Treasury minister after accepting the government was being harmed by the furore over her close ties to her aunt, the ousted prime minister of Bangladesh accused of corruption.

   Siddiq, who was the City and anti-corruption minister, stepped aside after an investigation by Laurie Magnus, the adviser on ministerial standards, into her use of properties given to her and her family by allies of the regime of Sheikh Hasina.

   She was not deemed by Magnus to have broken any rules over her use of the homes and he found no evidence to suggest that any of Siddiq’s assets were derived from anything other than legitimate means.

   In December 2025, a court in Bangladesh sentenced Siddiq to two years in jail after a judge ruled she was complicit in corrupt land deals with her aunt.

   The trial was carried out in absentia and Siddiq was not in court for any of the proceedings. The UK does not have an extradition treaty with Bangladesh and it is unlikely Siddiq will serve the sentence. The Labour party said it did not recognise the corruption judgment against Siddiq because she had been denied the opportunity to a fair legal process in the case.

   Siddiq has denied the charges, claiming that much of the evidence being presented by prosecutors was forged.

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   Louise Haigh

   Haigh served as transport secretary from July 2024 to November 2024. She has been the MP for Sheffield Heeley since 2015

   

   Louise Haigh. Photograph: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Rex/Shutterstock

   Louise Haigh resigned in November 2024 as transport secretary, 12 hours after it emerged she had been convicted of fraud over a missing work phone.

   Haigh quit the cabinet with a letter to the prime minister saying: “Whatever the facts of the matter, this issue will inevitably be a distraction from delivering the work of this government.”

   Haigh’s dramatic departure came after it emerged that she had pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation in 2014, following an investigation by her former employer, Aviva, into a missing work phone.