UK leader Starmer faces hurdles and rivals as he battles to keep his job
over Epstein fallout
[February 09, 2026]
By PAN PYLAS
LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is facing a battle to
stay in post as he comes under heavy criticism for his decision in 2024
to appoint veteran politician Peter Mandelson as the British ambassador
to the U.S. despite the latter's ties to late convicted sex offender
Jeffrey Epstein.
Starmer’s judgment is in the spotlight like never before after the
recent release of millions of Epstein-related documents by the U.S.
Justice Department showed how close Mandelson and Epstein were.
There’s widespread anger that the prime minister appointed Mandelson,
long a key figure of Starmer's own Labour Party, to such a sensitive and
high-profile post. Starmer had already sacked Mandelson after a first
batch of emails were published in September, showing he remained friends
with Epstein after the late financier’s 2008 conviction for sex offenses
involving a minor.
But the emails made public this week show that Mandelson also passed on
sensitive — and potentially market-moving — government information to
the disgraced financier in 2009, when he was a member of the Labour
Cabinet.
Starmer’s leadership has now been called into question, and several
Labour lawmakers have called for him to quit. His chief of staff
resigned on Sunday, taking the blame for advising Starmer to appoint
Mandelson, but many believe that is not enough to keep Starmer in the
job.
The prime minister is trying to persuade his party members to back him.
He has apologized to the British public and to the victims of Epstein’s
sex trafficking for believing what he has termed “Mandelson’s lies.”
There are a number of ways in which Starmer could go, some more
straightforward than others.
The easiest way
The simplest option is that Starmer announces his intention to resign,
triggering an election for the Labour leadership. A resignation could
possibly come if a delegation of Cabinet members tell Starmer he has
lost too much support within the party or if members of his government
quit in protest.
Those considered to harbor leadership ambitions include Health Secretary
Wes Streeting, Home Secretary Shabana Mahood and former deputy prime
minister, Angela Rayner, who had to resign last year after admitting she
didn’t pay enough tax on a house purchase. An investigation into that is
ongoing.
But there's no clear front-runner.
Andy Burnham, the popular mayor of Manchester who was blocked from
standing at a special election in the city later this month, would not
be eligible as the leader must come from the parliamentary party.
Whoever does run, the election would likely take weeks, with Starmer
likely staying in post until that concludes.
If Starmer decides to resign immediately, the Cabinet and Labour’s
governing body would likely pick an interim leader to be prime minister,
probably someone not standing to be Labour leader. Deputy Prime Minister
David Lammy could fit the bill.
Under Labour’s rules, candidates must have the support of a fifth of the
parliamentary party, which equates to 80 lawmakers.
Those meeting that threshold would then have to receive the support of
5% of the local constituency Labour parties or at three least party
affiliates, of which two must be trade unions. Affiliates are groups or
organizations that are deemed to have interests consistent with those of
the Labour Party; including trade unions and co-operative and socialist
societies.
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Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer talks with members of the
audience after delivering a speech at Horntye Park Sports Complex in
St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, England, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026.
(Peter Nicholls/Pool Photo via AP)
Eligible members of the party and affiliates will then vote for the
leader using an electoral system that ranks the candidates. The
winner is the first candidate to secure over 50% of the vote.
King Charles III would then invite the winner to become prime
minister and form a government.
The not so easy way
If Starmer does not resign, he could face a challenge, potentially
from within his Cabinet.
Unlike the Conservative Party, which has a history of getting rid of
leaders such as Margaret Thatcher in 1990 and Boris Johnson in 2022,
Labour does not have that muscle memory. No Labour prime minister
has ever been dislodged, though Tony Blair announced his plan to
resign in 2007 after a series of low-level resignations.
Challengers would have to meet the eligibility thresholds above, but
Starmer would automatically be on the ballot.
Starmer faces a series of hurdles in the weeks ahead. The first will
probably be when files related to the vetting of Mandelson are
published. Starmer will be hoping they show the scale of Mandelson’s
lies. Should they not, that could be a point of high jeopardy for
the prime minister.
Another potential pitfall could be the special election in Gorton
and Denton on Feb. 26, traditionally a safe Labour seat. However,
this time it will be a tough fight, with challenges from the
anti-immigration Reform U.K. on the right and the Greens on the
left.
The decision to bar Burnham from standing also poses a risk for
Labour. Though he was blocked on the grounds that a Burnham victory
would trigger a costly special election for the mayoralty in
Manchester, critics claim that Starmer did not want to see a
potentially dangerous rival back in the House of Commons.
After that comes a raft of elections in May. Many in Labour fear the
party could lose power in Wales for the first time since the
legislature was created in 1999, fall way short in Scotland and get
battered in local elections in England.
It's clear that Starmer faces a difficult landscape.
And that’s barring surprise developments that could further rock his
premiership.
“Events, dear boy, events,” Harold Macmillan, prime minister between
1957 and 1963, said when asked what the greatest challenges for
leaders were.
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