Starmer

Keir Starmer’s authority is under acute scrutiny after top aides quit, an exodus that narrows the circle of trust around the prime minister and invites a cascade of political risk. In Westminster, personnel is policy; who sits at the No. 10 table often determines what reaches the floor of the House, how a message lands with voters and whether a leadership’s grip tightens or slips. When senior advisers walk out together, it rarely happens by accident—and it rarely ends at the door. The immediate consequence is practical. A…

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. The government is…

Keir Starmer’s defense of his decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as Britain’s ambassador to Washington — that he did not grasp the depth of Mandelson’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein — does not withstand the weight of what was already widely known. The scandal now engulfing Downing Street is not a bolt from the blue; it is the foreseeable consequence of elevating a man whose entanglements, instincts and methods were part of the public record. And it has exposed the operating system of this government more starkly than…

Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer accused Peter Mandelson of “betraying our country” by leaking information to Jeffrey Epstein and said the former Labour grandee “lied repeatedly” during the process that led to his appointment as U.K. ambassador to the United States. Mandelson, a former Cabinet minister and ex–EU trade commissioner, resigned from the House of Lords on Tuesday. Hours later, British police said they were investigating “misconduct in public office offences” linked to the matter. Starmer said he regretted…

Starmer says Trump should apologize for ‘insulting’ claim NATO allies stayed off Afghanistan front lines LONDON — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Friday said President Donald Trump should apologize for claiming European allies stayed “a little off the front lines” in the war in Afghanistan, a rare public rebuke that underscored fresh strain across the Atlantic. Calling the remarks “insulting and frankly appalling,” Starmer said that if he had “misspoken in that way or said those words, I would certainly apologise.” He…

Labour MPs will meet Saturday amid mounting speculation that Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham could seek a return to Westminster in the Gorton and Denton by-election, a move that would test the prime minister’s authority and the party’s internal discipline. The gathering of Labour MPs from north-west England comes as senior figures weigh whether Burnham should be allowed to enter the race to succeed Andrew Gwynne, who formally resigned his Greater Manchester seat on Friday, triggering a by-election. Burnham has long…

Labour MPs from northwest England will gather amid rising speculation that Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham could seek to stand in a forthcoming Westminster by-election in Gorton and Denton — a move that would test the Prime Minister’s authority and reshape Labour’s internal dynamics. The meeting comes as party figures weigh whether Burnham, long viewed as a potential rival for the party leadership, will enter the race triggered by the resignation of Andrew Gwynne, the former MP for the Greater Manchester seat. Burnham…

Starmer condemns Trump’s Afghanistan comments as ‘insulting’ as UK, allies push back U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer denounced as “insulting” Donald Trump’s claim that British troops stayed off the front lines in Afghanistan, drawing cross-party anger in Britain and rebukes from allies and veterans’ groups. Trump, in a Fox News interview aired Monday, suggested NATO partners had not borne the brunt of combat, saying, “They’ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan. And they did, they stayed a little back, a little off the…