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Hello and welcome to this edition of The Westminster Hour with me, Ben Wright, and my guests coming up.

There is only one political story dominating the resignation of the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff, Morgan McSweeney.

Pressure had been building on him long before the Peter Mandelson scandal came crashing at

number 10's door.

But in stepping down now, Sir Kirstama will hope to have shored up his position among angry

Labour MPs.

But will it?

We've been testing the mood among his backbenchers.

And how should politics respond when standards in public

life are once again in the spotlight? We'll also hear from the Conservative peer Gabby Burton,

her thoughts on the Epstein Files and protecting women and girls. But first, let's meet my panel.

Rachel Blake is the Labour MP for the cities of London and Westminster, specialising

in housing and planning. She was once an advisor to Gordon Brown and also served as a local

councillor in Tower Hamlets. Rachel was elected in Labour's 2020 floor landslide, which probably

feels quite a long time ago this evening, Rachel. It does feel quite a long time ago.

We shall talk more about that as the programme goes on.

Dr Neil Shastryhurst is the Conservative MP for Solly Hell West.

Like Rachel, he was elected in 2024.

After graduating in medicine, he joined the British Army as a medical officer

and then worked as a surgeon in the NHS before qualifying as a barrister specialising in healthcare law. Good to have you again with us, Neil. Good to be back on, Ben.

Dr Hannah White is here too. She is the director of the Institute for Government Think Tank, leading its work on how to make government more effective.

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