Macroom man will be at centre of UK Labour party leader's bid to become prime minister 

A MACROOM man will be at the centre of Keir Starmer’s bid to become UK prime minister following the announcement on Wednesday by the current occupant of Number 10 Downing Street, Rishi Sunak, the leader of the Conservative Party, that a general election is to be held in Britain and Northern Ireland on July 4.

The long-anticipated poll comes as the Labour Party made significant gains at the local elections in England and Wales at the beginning of this month as well as winning a succession of by-elections in constituencies regarded as Tory strongholds by considerable margins.

Morgan McSweeney, who was the mascot of the Macroom senior football team when it won a County Championship in the early 1980s, is a politics graduate and has ascended through the ranks of the Labour Party to become its Director of Campaigns, a position which gives him a key role in the backroom of Labour leader Keir Starmer, widely tipped to win a Labour Party majority on July 4.

The son of accountant Tim and Carmel McSweeney, Morgan is married to a Labour Party parliamentary candidate in Lanark and Hamilton East in Scotland, Imogen Walker. 

He is also a cousin of Clare Mungovan, a key adviser in Simon Harris’ team and to the previous Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.

The Macroom man steers clear of the limelight and never makes a public statement. He regards his role as that of an official, not a public-facing official.

He is also credited with some of Labour’s key policy proposals, increasing taxes on the rich, scrapping tuition fees, defending free movement of people, the initiation of a green energy revolution as well as the abolition of universal credit which is intertwined with the UK social welfare system.

If, as anticipated, Keir Starmer wins an overall majority on June 4 and is elected UK Prime Minister, Morgan McSweeney will undoubtedly be a key member of his Downing Street team.