LONDON — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will face his MPs this week as he fights for his political survival after his chief of staff resigned over the fallout from the Peter Mandelson appointment and its links to Jeffrey Epstein.
Starmer is expected to address a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party amid anger over his decision to name Mandelson ambassador to the United States, despite knowing Mandelson’s association with Epstein continued after the financier’s conviction for child sex offenses.
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The government is preparing to release files related to Mandelson’s selection, documents Starmer believes will show Mandelson misled vetters about the extent of his ties to Epstein. The Guardian, citing a well-placed source, reported the papers would reveal the Cabinet Office warned of the “grave reputational risk” in handing Mandelson the post.
The crisis intensified after Morgan McSweeney quit as Starmer’s chief of staff, taking “full responsibility” for advising the prime minister on what he called the “wrong” appointment. While allies portrayed the departure as a mutual decision and a moment to “move on,” scrutiny of Starmer’s judgment has grown, with critics noting the final call on Mandelson was the prime minister’s.
In a statement that did not mention Mandelson, Starmer praised McSweeney’s “dedication, loyalty and leadership,” crediting him with a central role in Labour’s 2024 general election win. McSweeney’s deputies, Vidhya Alakeson and Jill Cuthbertson, have been appointed joint acting chiefs of staff.
Pressure from within Labour was immediate. Rachael Maskell, MP for York Central, called McSweeney’s exit “a start,” urging Starmer to turn away from “factionalism” associated with his former aide. “If he hasn’t understood the seriousness of the situation, then I think he will find it very difficult to continue,” she told BBC Radio 4’s The Westminster Hour.
MPs on the party’s left, including Brian Leishman, Ian Byrne and Kim Johnson, suggested Starmer should consider following McSweeney out the door. The Times quoted two unnamed Cabinet ministers as saying Starmer was “weaker” and “could stand down at any moment,” a claim Downing Street called “categorically untrue.”
Union leaders also weighed in. Steve Wright, general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, said Starmer should resign. Maryam Eslamdoust, general secretary of the Labour-affiliated Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association, told The Telegraph there was “no case for waiting until May” given the scale of defeat the party is bracing for in critical elections, adding: “It’s time to elect a new leader.”
Starmer loyalists urged restraint. John Slinger, a close ally, said “the last thing the country needs is leadership speculations.” David Blunkett, the former Labour home secretary, warned against “a party acting like ferrets in a sack.”
Downing Street struck a defiant tone, insisting the government’s policy agenda and commitment to its broader economic strategy remained unchanged. Starmer is expected to address the women’s Parliamentary Labour Party after Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday and to make on-camera statements later in the week, part of an effort to reassert control.
Starmer and McSweeney have also directed blame toward the vetting process by the security services, arguing it failed to disprove Mandelson’s claim he barely knew Epstein — assertions later undermined by disclosures in the so-called Epstein files. Officials have been tasked with examining how that vetting was conducted as a priority.
The release of internal files on Mandelson’s appointment could prove a decisive moment. If the documents support Downing Street’s account, they may shift some of the heat onto Mandelson and the machinery of government. If they confirm warnings were overruled, they risk deepening Labour’s internal revolt and intensifying questions about the prime minister’s judgment.
For now, Starmer’s message is steadiness and delivery. Whether his MPs — and the unions that power Labour’s ground game — accept it may hinge on what those files reveal and how quickly he can draw a line under the most damaging personnel decision of his premiership.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
