Close Offaly family connection to British government's new chief of staff

THE newly appointed chief of staff to Keir Starmer's government in Britain has close family connections with Offaly.

Cork native, Morgan McSweeney - the British prime minister's most trusted political advisor – was appointed to the new role following the resignation of Sue Gray last weekend.

Mr McSweeney now commands unrivalled political influence within the new British administration and played a key role in the Labour party's general election victory.

Former Offaly Express journalist, Declan McSweeney, from Tullamore, who now resides in England, is closely related to Morgan.

Declan's brother, Brian is the only member of the family still resident in Tullamore.

Brian and Declan are first cousins of Morgan's father, Tim - the Offaly brothers' late father, Denis, a former CEO of Offaly Vocational Education Committee, was a brother of Morgan's grandfather, Michael.

Speaking to the Tribune following the recent general election, Declan congratulated Morgan on his success and wished him well on "whatever role now emerges".

He also congratulated his wife, Imogen Walker, on being elected MP for Hamilton and Clyde Valley.

"I would be hopeful, however, that the new government will see improved relations with Ireland, given Keir Starmer's links to the country and the number of people with Irish birth of connections in his team," speculated Declan.

Morgan McSweeney's family were involved in politics in his native Cork, though of the "blue" rather than the "red" variety.

He had an aunt who was a county councillor with Fine Gael while a first cousin of his, Clare Mungovan, was a special advisor to Leo Varadkar when he was Taoiseach.

Profiling the Cork man, The London Times said: "Nobody without elected office wields as much power in British politics as McSweeney."