Sawt Falasteen - Starmer vows to remain as UK PM amid Epstein fallout

Starmer is scrambling to shore up his premiership amid calls for his resignation over the appointment of Peter Mandelson as US ambassador, despite knowing he had maintained links to Epstein after the sex offender was convicted in 2008.

In an address to Downing Street staff, the embattled premier vowed to "go forward... with confidence as we continue changing the country", according to a government official speaking on condition of anonymity.

"The prime minister is concentrating on the job in hand," Starmer's official spokesman told reporters, insisting that the Labour leader was feeling "upbeat", despite increasing rumblings from members of parliament that his days are numbered.

In a fresh setback, Starmer's communications chief Tim Allan on Monday quit just months into the role, the day after his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, also resigned for advising Starmer to make the contentious Mandelson appointment.

McSweeney's departure deprives the beleaguered UK leader of his closest adviser and the man who helped Starmer drag Labour back to the centre after succeeding leftist leader Jeremy Corbyn in 2020.

- 'Untenable' -

Allan said in a short statement that he wanted "to allow a new No.10 team to be built", referring to the prime minister's 10 Downing Street office.

Starmer has already had several communications chiefs in his short tenure, with staff departures, policy U-turns and missteps an increasing hallmark of his struggling administration, denting his popularity.

He was due to address Labour MPs later Monday in a crunch meeting.

"Advisers advise, leaders decide. He made a bad decision, he should take responsibility for that," Conservative opposition leader Kemi Badenoch told BBC radio, calling Starmer's position "untenable".

The fallout from the appointment of Mandelson, sparked by emails showing that he remained friends with Epstein long after the latter's conviction in 2008, has grown into the most serious crisis of Starmer's turbulent time in power.

Several backbench Labour MPs, mostly from the left of the party who have never warmed to Starmer's centrist tilt, have suggested that the prime minister should follow McSweeney out the exit door.

UK newspapers have quoted senior ministers saying they think he will step down soon on condition of anonymity.

But a number of leading figures have defended him, as no clear successor has emerged while the party faces key local elections in May.

Cabinet minister Pat McFadden said he believed Starmer would still be leader this time next year, saying he had a five-year mandate.

- 'Purpose' -

Labour has trailed Nigel Farage's hard-right Reform UK party by double-digit margins in the polls for the past year.

The surveys have heightened the unease of Labour MPs, although the next general election is not due until 2029.

Starmer sacked Mandelson in September last year after documents published by the US Congress revealed the extent of Mandelson's relationship with Epstein, who killed himself in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex crimes t.

Documents released on January 30 by the US government reignited the controversy, appearing to show that Mandelson leaked confidential UK government information to financier Epstein when he was a British minister, including during the 2008 financial crisis.

Police are investigating Mandelson, 72, for misconduct in a public office and raided two of his properties on Friday. He has not been arrested.

Starmer, a former human rights lawyer and top prosecutor for England and Wales, has apologised to Epstein's victims and accused Mandelson of lying about the extent of his ties to the financier during the vetting process for his appointment to Washington.

The UK government is due to release tens of thousands of emails, messages and documents relating to Mandelson's appointment, which could increase pressure on the prime minister and other senior Labour ministers.

Starmer also faces a crucial by-election on February 28, defeat in which would add to his woes.

Patrick Diamond, a former Downing Street adviser, told AFP that the prime minister's position "is not terminal" but he "has to re-discover a sense of purpose for his administration".

O.Mousa--SF-PST