Epstein files: Starmer resists, King Charles ready to cooperate with police
New staff resignations and attacks from Scottish Labour but the government reunites around the premier, who remains in the saddle for now
LONDON - Government united but Labour party split: Keir Starmer is in a precarious position but remains in the saddle. The British premier refused to resign yesterday, declaring that he has 'an important task to complete'.
Starmer admitted that he had made a serious mistake by appointing Peter Mandelson as ambassador to Washington, but claims that the party veteran had lied to him about his close relationship with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
The scandal unleashed by the new revelations that have emerged from the US is making scorched earth around the PM: after the resignation of his right-hand man, Chief of Staff Morgan McSweeney, who took responsibility for advising Starmer to choose Mandelson, yesterday the Downing Street Communications Director, Tim Allan, also left his post without explanation.
The hardest blow came from Anas Sarwar, the respected Labour Party leader in Scotland, who yesterday openly called for Starmer's resignation, declaring that the premier had made 'too many mistakes'. A "painful" decision, said Sarwar, hitherto considered an ally of Starmer, "but my priority must be Scotland." Indeed, the chaos in Westminster is causing Labour to lose support ahead of the crucial Scottish elections in May, to the benefit of the SNP nationalists.
Sarwar's attack, however, had the effect of awakening the sense of loyalty of ministers, who had been silent until now. One after the other, they all expressed their solidarity with Starmer and their conviction that the premier should remain in Downing Street - even those considered possible rivals for the leadership, such as Wes Streeting, Health Minister and representative of the party's centrist wing, and Angela Rayner, former deputy prime minister and champion of the left.
