Instead Starmer was cheered and applauded by his own MPs and peers in a private meeting on Monday night. Fighting for his future in 75 minutes, Starmer gave what one supportive MP called “the most passionate speech” of his time in office and took 44 questions, apologizing for the damage caused to his party. It was heartfelt and sincere; in short, he won the room.
Yet POLITICO spoke to more than 25 ministers, MPs and officials, all of whom were granted anonymity to give their frank assessments — and the peril is far from over.
One frontbencher said it “bought him time but [is] still terminal.” A minister said it had done nothing to stop him facing a challenge following local, Scottish and Welsh elections on May 7. A previously loyal MP added: “Nothing fundamental changed tonight … He is in office but not in charge, and it’s not sustainable.”
Such high drama and jeopardy is extraordinary for a prime minister who won an election landslide 19 months ago — and reminiscent, for some MPs, of the final months of Conservative Boris Johnson’s premiership. Like his political opposite Johnson, Starmer has been beset by a series of controversies, worsened by a scandal that prompted moral outrage from his MPs.
“I had four Labour MPs ringing me up over the weekend asking what they should do,” said one shadow Cabinet minister. Another veteran of Johnson’s government strode past Monday night’s meeting muttering: “Terrible flashbacks.” Starmer will be hoping he does not meet the same end.
Doom awaits at any moment
The new round of bloodletting for Starmer began on Feb. 2, when messages related to Mandelson were released by the U.S. Department of Justice as part of a larger tranche of Epstein files. Email chains appeared to show Mandelson taking five-figure payments from Epstein between 2003 and 2004, as well as leaking sensitive No. 10 financial discussions to Epstein in 2009. Police are now investigating Mandelson for potential crimes related to those disclosures.