Keir Starmer never met Jeffrey Epstein. Yet the British Prime Minister's position has been called into question by the fallout from the late sex offender's global network of relationships.
The prime minister is reportedly facing increasing pressure within his ruling Labour Party over his decision in 2024 to appoint Peter Mandelson, a veteran of Labour politics, to the post of ambassador to Washington, despite his ties to Epstein.
Just over a year later, that decision has become Starmer's biggest threat yet, as his party colleagues question his judgment and leadership after emails revealed not only the extent of Mandelson's ties to Epstein, but also his alleged willingness to leak confidential government business.
Starmer apologized to Epstein's victims yesterday, saying Mandelson had repeatedly lied and "represented Epstein as someone he barely knew." "I'm sorry, I'm sorry for what was done to you, I'm sorry that you were let down by so many people in positions of power," Starmer said. "I'm sorry that I believed Mandelson's lies and named him."
While Starmer does not appear to be in immediate danger of being removed from office over the scandal, six Labour MPs told Reuters the affair has further weakened a prime minister already facing an increasingly restive Labour party. Now even his most loyalists are suggesting it is not a question of if but when he will be removed from power, with many pointing to local elections in May as the key moment.
“He is now essentially cornered,” Rob Ford, a political science professor at the University of Manchester, told The Associated Press. “His administration could fall tomorrow, or it could falter for months, even years. (But) his authority is seriously shaken.”
"Whenever the moment comes for Starmer to finally leave - whether of his own accord or because his MPs remove him ... it will all come down to that and be linked to the appointment of Peter Mandelson," Ford told the AP.
One Labour MP said that, after months of policy reversals and missteps over donations, the Mandelson affair “feels like something has broken and it will be impossible to fix”.
Political risk consultancy Eurasia Group has put the likelihood of Starmer being removed this year at 80%, up from 65% previously, saying the scandal has caused "irreparable damage".
All six Labour MPs from different factions within the party told Reuters that the appointment of Mandelson, who has been dubbed the "Prince of Darkness" by the British media for his behind-the-scenes maneuvering, irrevocably tarnished the prime minister who came to power on a promise to clean up politics.
Starmer's attempts to distance himself from the scandal proved futile; at yesterday's press conference, almost every question was about how he failed to see the risks of appointing Mandelson, even though he had already been forced to leave the government twice under Tony Blair due to previous allegations of misconduct.
"It has been public knowledge for some time that Mandelson knew Epstein, but none of us knew the extent and the dark nature of that relationship," Starmer said.
That defense neither convinced nor reassured his colleagues in the Labor Party, which, after winning a large majority in the national election in July 2024, saw power slip away from it after major political upheavals.
Meanwhile, Britain's borrowing costs have also risen, suggesting investors believe Starmer may be forced to leave.
As the political crisis in the United Kingdom deepens, efforts to provide justice for the victims are running into a wall of inertia in Washington, CNN reports, adding that it shows how much control Donald Trump has over the Department of Justice and his tight grip on the Republican majority in Congress.
US Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanch, who is in charge of releasing the Epstein dossier, told ABC News on Sunday that the prosecutor's review of the human trafficking case involving Jeffrey Epstein and Gillian Maxwell is "complete."
Trump on Tuesday urged Americans to move on to other topics. “I think it’s really time for the country to maybe move on to something else,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “Now that nothing has come out about me, except that it was all a conspiracy against me, literally by Epstein and other people.”
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