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Furious female Labour MPs have told Keir Starmer<\/a> to appoint a woman as his de facto deputy to oversee a \u201ccomplete culture change\u201d in Downing Street after a series of scandals they say have exposed a No 10 \u201cboy\u2019s club\u201d.<\/p>\n Harriet Harman, one of the party\u2019s most senior figures, urged Starmer to revive the role of first secretary of state, a post previously occupied by Peter Mandelson under Gordon Brown. But she insisted the role must be held by a woman to \u201ctransform the political culture in government around women and girls\u201d.<\/p>\n Starmer faced a packed meeting of the parliamentary Labour party on Wednesday after a torrid prime minister\u2019s questions during which he faced repeated questions about Mandelson and his former communications chief Matthew Doyle, who it was revealed had campaigned on behalf of friend who at the time had been charged with possessing indecent images of children<\/a>.<\/p>\n Harman told Starmer to appoint a woman as first secretary of state, becoming the most senior cabinet member after the prime minister and his de facto deputy. She said it would be \u201creally powerful\u201d if the role was given to a woman.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need a complete culture change, and I think everybody recognises that,\u201d Harman told the Guardian. \u201cBut it\u2019s easier to say let\u2019s change culture than to make it happen.\u201d The first secretary role would \u201cturbocharge\u201d the government\u2019s pledge to halve violence against women and girls over the next decade, she said. \u201cIt would deal with culture change, but it would also hold every government department accountable for what they are doing on women, and empower the work on women that\u2019s happening in each of those departments.\u201d<\/p>\n The fallout of the Mandelson scandal, worsened by the revelations about Doyle, has sparked real anger among Labour ranks and particularly among female MPs. \u201cAnger and grief in huge measure is what those of us from Labour\u2019s progressive wing feel now,\u201d the local government minister, Alison McGovern, wrote<\/a> in a blog. \u201cIt\u2019s our culture that doesn\u2019t properly hear women which meant Peter Mandelson\u2019s power lasted for so long.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite or perhaps because of this, a growing guard has formed around Starmer since the resignation of his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, on Sunday<\/a>. McSweeney, who said he had advised Starmer to appoint Mandelson as US ambassador, has been replaced by acting joint chiefs of staff Vidhya Alakeson and JillCuthbertson.<\/p>\n