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BRITISH PRIME MINISTER Keir Starmer remains under pressure from within Labour ranks as he seeks to steady the ship amid widespread anger over the Peter Mandelson scandal.
Leadership speculation intensified yesterday as Starmer gave a speech apologising to Jeffrey Epstein’s victims for believing Mandelson’s “lies” about his relationship with the paedophile financier.
Backbenchers have called for either his chief of staff, Cork native Morgan McSweeney, to be sacked or for Starmer himself to step down after bombshell revelations about Mandelson’s dealings with the child sex offender.
In a speech yesterday, Starmer insisted that “none of us knew the depth of the darkness” of the peer’s relationship with Epstein when he was appointed ambassador to the United States last year.
Police are investigating allegations that Mandelson, who has stepped down from the House of Lords, passed on market-sensitive information to Epstein when he was business secretary following the 2008 financial crisis.
Other documents released by the US Department of Justice also laid bare the apparent extent of the pair’s relationship, with messages appearing to show Mandelson celebrate the paedophile’s release from jail as “Liberation day”.
Amid growing uncertainty about his political future, Starmer said yesterday he shared the “anger and frustration” of colleagues about the saga but vowed to continue as prime minister.
However, Labour grandee Harriet Harman said it looked “weak and naive and gullible” for Starmer to say “he lied to me” and warned the scandal would “finish him off” unless he took the right course of action.
"I am sorry, sorry for what was done to you, sorry that so many people with power failed you, sorry for having believed Mandelson's lies and appointing him"
— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) February 5, 2026
PM Keir Starmer issues apology to victims of Jeffrey Epstein, adding "we will pursue the truth"https://t.co/ggSOI9OvGc pic.twitter.com/ozWSI2pMk4
“He should be reflecting on why he made that appointment,” Harman told Sky News’ Electoral Dysfunction podcast.
“He should also be thinking about a real reset in No 10, because what you need from your team in No 10 is people who share your values and your principles and who will help you be the best prime minister you can be according to your true self.
“And clearly that is not what happened because the Keir Starmer who was DPP (director of public prosecutions), would never have appointed somebody like Peter Mandelson to represent the country.”
A handful of Labour MPs, including John McDonnell and Barry Gardiner, have publicly suggested Starmer should consider his position, though others have expressed reservations about the prospect of upheaval without an obvious challenger.
The Daily Mail reported that Starmer’s former deputy, Angela Rayner, who left the Labour government after underpaying stamp duty on a new property, had told friends she was “ready” to launch a leadership campaign.
A spokesperson for Rayner said: “We don’t recognise these claims.”
Meanwhile, a number of MPs are understood to have been invited to Chequers for a pre-planned evening at Starmer’s grace and favour country estate in an apparent bid to strengthen relations with backbenchers.
Starmer is understood to have hosted similar drinks twice previously on a fortnightly basis.
Many Labour MPs have privately expressed a lack of confidence in Starmer’s No 10 team and pointed to his right-hand man McSweeney, whom they blame for Mandelson’s appointment last year.
There was also anger about Downing Street’s attempt to control the release of potentially explosive documents providing insight into how the decision was made.
The UK government backed down and ceded control to Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) to decide what could be released into the public domain in the face of a Labour mutiny on Wednesday.
The release could be delayed because the Metropolitan Police has asked the government not to publish documents that would “undermine” its probe.
The ISC said it could not provide a timetable for releasing the documents as it reviews whether some of the papers should be withheld for national security reasons.
No 10 has “begun discussions with the ISC about the process for releasing these documents” and will update Parliament once it has been agreed, Starmer’s spokesman said.
Starmer retains “full confidence” in his right-hand man, his official spokesman told reporters.
Mandelson has been approached for comment and while he has yet to speak publicly, the BBC said it understood he maintains he did not act criminally and that his actions were not for personal gain.
With reporting from Press Association.
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