Members of British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s cabinet have rallied around their embattled boss, who is facing down the prospect of political annihilation over his decision to appoint Lord Peter Mandelson as ambassador to Washington despite knowing of his ties to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
It appears that Prime Minister Starmer has bought himself some time after the walls appeared to be closing in at Downing Street over the weekend, after his all-powerful chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, sensationally resigned over the decision to appoint Mandelson to the top diplomatic outpost.
While many saw the resignation as a sign of the end of the Starmer government, the political sacrifice has seemingly bought Starmer some goodwill, with members of his cabinet circling the wagons on Monday, pledging open support.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who has long been rumoured as a potential rival of Starmer’s, told Beth Rigby of Sky News that while “it has not been the best week for the government”, he thinks it is best for the party to “give Keir a chance”.
Former deputy prime minister, and another rumoured top candidate to replace Starmer, Angela Rayner said: “The recent scandal around Peter Mandelson and Jeffrey Epstein was shocking — and demands that both this government and our party learn the lessons, and act on them.”
However, she added that the “worst possible response would be to play party politics or factional games” and therefore urged all Labour MPs “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.”
Another mooted contender, Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband, also publicly backed Starmer, saying: “Keir has earned the right to deliver the change he has promised and do what he cares about – which is to serve the country. This is not the time for the government to turn inwards on itself. We must focus on delivering the change we promised the country.”
Other Labour cabinet ministers who publicly backed Starmer on Monday include Deputy PM David Lammy, Chancellor Rachel Reeves, Chief Secretary Darren Jones, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, Housing Secretary Steve Reed, Welsh Secretary Jo Stevens, and Defence Secretary John Healey, according to The Times.
The apparently coordinated show of support came as the leader of the Labour Party in Scotland, Anas Sarwar, called on Starmer to resign. Sanwar said that there have been “too many mistakes” and that the failures of the government have distracted from delivering on the Labour agenda and from the upcoming local elections.
Regardless, with the cabinet’s support, Starmer will have bought himself some time. However, many of the structural problems facing his government are likely to remain. Indeed, even before the Mandelson-Epstein scandal, the prime minister was deeply unpopular for failing to protect the nation’s borders or turn around the economy.
Yet the party’s poor polling may have helped Starmer cling to power, as a leadership challenge could precipitate an early general election, which currently massively favours Nigel Farage and his poll-topping Reform UK party.
For his part, Mr Farage said on Monday that the “sheer level of political corruption is probably the biggest political scandal we’ve seen in a hundred years”. The Brexit boss also predicted that Starmer will eventually fall and be replaced by “somebody undoubtedly far worse”.
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