British Prime Minister Keir Starmer leaves No. 10 Downing Street to attend the weekly Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, February 11, 2026.Image: keystone
February 11, 2026, 3:20 p.mFebruary 11, 2026, 3:20 p.m
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer remains under pressure despite the government crisis in London easing.
At the first question time in Parliament since the departure from Starmer’s team and the demand for his resignation from Scottish Labor leader Anas Sarwar, the Prime Minister had to listen to strong criticism – and was combative.
Opposition leader Kemi Badenoch from the Conservatives accused the Labor politician of making his employees pay for their own mistakes. Both his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney and his communications chief Tim Allan recently resigned in quick succession. Shortly afterwards, party colleague Sarwar Starmer called for his resignation. For a short time, the prime minister’s political future seemed to be hanging in the balance. The reason for the latest government crisis was Starmer’s appointment of Epstein confidant Peter Mandelson as British ambassador in Washington.
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch accuses Starmer of making his staff pay for their own mistakes. Image: keystone
She also confronted Starmer about the appointment of a former employee to the House of Lords who had stood up for a party colleague who was later convicted of possessing child pornography. Starmer emphasized that the employee had provided incomplete information about his relationship with the man.
Starmer: I took responsibility
The case is reminiscent of Starmer’s appointment of Peter Mandelson as British ambassador in Washington, whose connection to US multimillionaire and pedo criminal Jeffrey Epstein, who died in 2019, was partly known. “He can’t even run his own office, let alone the country,” Badenoch hurled at the head of government in a parliamentary session marked by many heckling.
“My legacy is to have changed my party and won an election.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer
Starmer, on the other hand, was combative. “My legacy is that I changed my party and won an election,” shouted the visibly tense prime minister. Starmer said he had taken responsibility for Mandelson’s appointment. He kicked the former upper house employee, Matthew Doyle, out of the parliamentary group. He also listed his government’s achievements, such as measures to combat violence against women and girls and the increase in the minimum wage. (sda/dpa/val)