The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (UK), Keir Starmer is facing mounting pressure to resign following the release of new troves of Jeffrey Epstein files.
On Monday, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar became the most senior figure within the Prime Minister’s own party to publicly demand his departure, arguing that the “distraction needs to end” for the sake of the country.
The crisis centers on Starmer’s decision to appoint Lord Peter Mandelson as the British Ambassador to the United States in 2024.
Despite initial warnings, Starmer proceeded with the appointment, only to fire Mandelson in late 2025 after emails surfaced detailing a deep, ongoing friendship between Mandelson and the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Last week, Mandelson also quit the Labour Party and the House of Lords, the upper chamber of the UK Parliament. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said it is reviewing an exit payment made to him after he was fired.
Speaking to the press on Monday Labour’s leader in Scotland, while Starmer is a “decent man”, he needs to resign.
He said the people of Scotland “are crying out for competent government”.
“We have an SNP government that is addicted to secrecy and cover-ups with devastating consequences.
“That’s why I have to be honest about failure wherever I see it. The situation in Downing Street is not good enough. There have been too many mistakes
“They promised they were going to be different, but too much has happened.
“Have there been good things? Of course, there have been many of them, but no one knows them and no one can hear them because they’re being drowned out.
“That’s why it cannot continue.”
His comments followed the departure of Starmer’s communications chief Tim Allan, who resigned on Monday “to allow a new No 10 team to be built”.
The move came a day after Starmer’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, also quit.
Starmer has come under criticism for appointing Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the United States despite his known links to Epstein, a convicted sex offender who died in a US prison by suicide.
Meanwhile, Starmer’s spokesperson has declared that the UK Prime Minister has no plans to stand aside. “The prime minister is … getting on with the task of delivering change across the country,” the spokesperson told reporters.
Despite the growing calls for Starmer to resign, he has received some backing from senior members of his government.
David Lammy, deputy prime minister and justice secretary, said: “We should let nothing distract us from our mission to change Britain, and we support the prime minister in doing that.”
In a social media post on X, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: “With Keir as our Prime Minister we are turning the country around.”
Angela Rayner, his former deputy who is seen as a leading leadership candidate, offered him her “full support”.
“I urge all my colleagues to come together, remember our values, and put them into practice as a team. The Prime Minister has my full support in leading us to that end,” she said on X.
However, the leader of the opposition Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, accused Starmer of being unable to run his government.
“He’s like a plastic bag blowing in the wind. We need him to get a grip, and if he can’t do it, then someone else in the Labour Party needs to do that, or they should have an election,” she told the press.
The prime minister is expected to address a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party amid anger over his appointment of Mandelson despite knowing his links with Epstein continued after the financier’s conviction for child sex offences.
