UK PM Starmer refuses to quit

UK premier Keir Starmer insisted he would not "walk away" on Monday after a prominent ally demanded the prime minister quit for embroiling the British government in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. Senior ministers rallied around him over the most serious crisis yet of his stuttering 19-month premiership, as a rising far-right challenges him in the polls. Starmer is facing heat, including from some members of his own party, over his appointment of Peter Mandelson as UK’ ambassador to the United States in 2024 despite his known links to Epstein, particularly amid uproar over the recently released Epstein documents.
"After having fought so hard for the chance to change our country, I'm not prepared to walk away from my mandate and my responsibility," Starmer told Labour MPs at a crunch meeting where he was greeted with applause. The beleaguered prime minister appeared defiant as he insisted he had "won every fight I've ever been in". Several cabinet ministers came out in support of the prime minister following several days of ominous silence, including his deputy David Lammy, foreign minister Yvette Cooper and finance minister Rachel Reeves.
Earlier on Monday, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar called on Starmer to resign for appointing Peter Mandelson as US ambassador despite knowing he had maintained links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. "The distraction needs to end, and the leadership in Downing Street has to change," Sarwar told a press conference in Glasgow, becoming the most senior Labour politician to publicly urge Starmer to go.