LONDON (AP) — Keir Starmer fight another day.
After indirect consequences of the Jeffrey Epstein files led to a dramatic day of crisis that threatened to overthrow him, the British Prime Minister was saved by a combative resistance and hesitation among its rivals within the ruling Labor Party about the consequences of a leadership coup.
Energy Minister Ed Miliband said on Tuesday that Labor lawmakers had “looked over the abyss… and they didn’t like what they saw.”
“And they thought it was right to get behind Keir,” Miliband told the BBC.
He could have added: for now.
Mandelson backlash
Starmer’s authority over his centre-left party has been battered by aftershocks from the publication of files relating to Epstein – a man he never met and whose sexual misconduct did not implicate him.
But it was Starmer’s decision to appoint an experienced Labor politician Peter Mandelsona friend of Epstein, as British ambassador to Washington in 2024, leading many to question the leader’s judgment and call for his resignation.
Starmer has apologized and said Mandelson had lied about the extent of his links to the convicted sex offender. And he vowed to fight for his job.
“Every battle I have ever fought, I have won,” Starmer told Labor lawmakers at a meeting of the troops on Monday evening.
Starmer’s risky decision to appoint Mandelson – who brought extensive contacts and trading expertise but a history of questionable ethical judgment – backfired when emails were published in September showing that Mandelson had maintained a friendship with Epstein following the financier’s 2008 conviction for sex offenses involving a minor.
Stermer Mandelson firedbut a new one trove of Epstein files released by the US government last month contained even more revelations. Mandelson is now facing one police investigation of possible misconduct in public office due to documents indicating he passed sensitive government information to Epstein. He is not charged with sex crimes.
Simmering discontent
The Mandelson scandal could be the final straw that ends Starmer’s premiership. But it follows the discontent that has grown since he took Labor to one landslide election victory 19 months ago.
Some of Starmer’s problems stem from a turbulent world and a bleak economic backdrop. He has received praise for it rallying international support for Ukraine and convincing US President Donald Trump to sign an agreement trade agreement easing of tariffs on British goods. But at home he has struggled to reduce inflation, boost economic growth and lower the cost of living.
Despite a huge parliamentary majority that should allow the government to easily implement its plans, Starmer has been forced to make multiple pushbacks against controversial policies, including cuts to welfare benefits and mandatory digital ID cards.
Starmer has been through two chiefs of staff, four communications directors and several lower-level staff changes in Downing Street. The prime minister’s powerful chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, resigned on Sunday over the decision to appoint Mandelson. Communications director Tim Allan left the next day.
Scottish Labor leader Anas Sarwar then held a press conference on Monday calling on Starmer to resign. Had other senior party figures followed suit, Starmer would have found it impossible to withstand the pressure.
But no one did it. Instead, Starmer’s cabinet and parliamentary colleagues posted seemingly choreographed messages of support. Among them was former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner and Minister of Health Wes Straatingconsidered the two most likely challengers for the top job.
Then came the party meeting where Starmer impressed many with his sense of determination. Lawmakers in the room said the initially skeptical mood now turned supportive.
“It was clear he was ready for a fight,” said Chris Curtis, one of more than 200 Labor lawmakers elected in the 2024 Starmer landslide.
Temporary postponement
Starmer seems to have more political lives than Larry the cat, who has survived five prime ministers in fifteen years as ‘chief mouser’ in Downing Street.
But his reprieve will likely be temporary. Many Labor lawmakers remain concerned about their re-election chances if the party’s poor poll numbers do not improve.
Some female party members feel particularly disappointed by Mandelson’s appointment. Wales’ Labor leader, First Minister Eluned Morgan, called the revelations about Mandelson “deeply disturbing, not least because, once again, the voices of women and girls were ignored.”
“That failure must be honestly acknowledged and confronted,” she said, offering support to Starmer.
Labor faces potential electoral setbacks in a special election on February 26 in what was once a party stronghold in north-west England, and in May elections for legislatures in Scotland and Wales and local councils in England.
And rivals are still scheming. The Guardian reported that an ‘Angela for leader’ website in support of Rayner accidentally went live briefly last month. Streeting, whose genial relationship with Mandelson is now a weakness, released messages he exchanged with Mandelson before and after the ambassador’s appointment, apparently in an attempt to show that the men were not close friends.
The exchanges included implicit criticism of Starmer, with Streeting writing that the government had ‘no growth strategy at all’.
Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London, said Starmer had “bought himself some time” and that the challengers were “keeping their powder dry” for now.
“It is very difficult to imagine that, after the heavy blow the party will face in May, he will continue to lead the party well beyond this summer,” Bale said.
Although in British politics nothing is impossible.
“There are problems with the other candidates,” Bale said. “It’s never an ideal situation for any party to choose a Prime Minister mid-term, and it may be the Labor Party that decides, better yet, you know. I suspect Keir Starmer will leave, but who knows?”
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