Just how much longer can Keir Starmer, or his government, hold out? In the 18 months since the UK election, Labour have plummeted from an already-low 34 per cent to just 20 per cent. Labour’s loss hasn’t been a Conservative win, though: the big winner is Reform, up from 14 per cent, to nearly match Labour’s election-winning vote of 2024. Starmer faces a massive 54 per cent credibility gap, with just 19 per cent of voters approving of his performance, compared to 73 per cent disapproval. Reform’s Nigel Farage is roaring ahead in the opinion polls.
Then there’s the seemingly endless scandals. Seven ministers have resigned or been sacked since the election, including Angela Rayner, Starmer’s deputy. But the latest scandal to hit Starmer’s government is the sacking of Starmer’s personal appointment as ambassador to the US, Lord Peter Mandelson. Starmer was forced to sack Mandelson after learning of his close association with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, including continued correspondence after Epstein’s convictions.
Worse for Starmer, it has emerged that he knew of and questioned Mandelson about his links to the disgraced financier. Starmer denied being aware of the contents of the leaked emails between Mandelson and Epstein before publicly backing his then-US ambassador in the House of Commons. Yet his office had been in possession of the emails for 48 hours before that.
On Tuesday (local time) the prime minister will face a three-hour emergency debate on his handling of a scandal that has added to concerns among Labour MPs and ministers about whether he will lead his party into the next election […]
Kemi Badenoch, the Tory leader, said Starmer faced “unanswered questions” about the appointment of Mandelson and that “No 10’s story keeps changing”.
Starmer sacked Mandelson on Thursday, less than 24 hours after defending him. No 10 said “additional” information had come to light in the emails after they were published by Bloomberg the previous night.
However, the Times disclosed at the weekend that both the Foreign Office and No 10 were made aware of the leaked cache of emails on Tuesday.
The Foreign Office was sent a 2,000-word right of reply from Bloomberg that included direct transcripts of the emails.
To top it all, the sackings and resignations keep coming.
On Monday, Starmer lost a third key government figure in the space of 10 days when one of his most senior aides resigned over lurid and explicit comments about the veteran left-wing MP Diane Abbott. Angela Rayner resigned as deputy prime minister on September 5 over her tax affairs.
All of which only adds to speculation that the UK PM is on borrowed time.
Dissatisfaction with Starmer’s handling of the crisis has led to questions about his leadership.
Richard Burgon, a shadow cabinet minister under Jeremy Corbyn, said it was “inevitable” that Starmer would be gone after the council elections in May if the situation did not change. “The prime minister needs to change course immediately,” he told the BBC.
Starmer insisted he was not going to resign, saying: “No, because I’m absolutely clear what the task is in front of me.”
Well, he would say that, wouldn’t he?
