Head of Scotland's Labour Party calls on Starmer to resign

Anas Sarwar, the leader of the Scottish Labour Party, officially called for UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to resign in London on Monday, February 9, 2026, following a deepening scandal involving the appointment of Peter Mandelson to a high-profile diplomatic post. Sarwar, the most senior party figure to break ranks, argued that a change in leadership at Downing Street is necessary to end persistent distractions and protect the party’s prospects in the upcoming Scottish parliamentary elections in May. The demand comes as Starmer faces intense scrutiny over his decision to appoint Mandelson as the UK ambassador to Washington despite Mandelson’s historical ties to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The political crisis escalated rapidly over the last 24 hours as Starmer’s authority appeared to crumble, leading to the resignations of his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, and his communications director. McSweeney, a key architect of the Labour Party's 2024 landslide victory, took responsibility for advising the Prime Minister to appoint Mandelson. However, the departure of such high-level aides has left Starmer increasingly isolated as he attempts to persuade disgruntled lawmakers not to oust him after only 19 months in office. The Prime Minister’s office has maintained that Starmer has no plans to step down and remains focused on his duties. The controversy centers on revelations from a new trove of Epstein-related documents released in the United States, which sparked a police investigation into Mandelson for potential misconduct in public office. Authorities are investigating whether Mandelson passed sensitive government information to Epstein approximately 15 years ago. While Starmer fired Mandelson in September 2024 and recently apologized for believing "Mandelson’s lies," critics argue the Prime Minister showed poor judgment by ignoring the diplomat's scandal-prone history. Conservative opposition leader Kemi Badenoch has joined the calls for resignation, labeling Starmer’s position as untenable. Starmer was scheduled to address Labour lawmakers in a closed-door meeting on Monday evening in a desperate bid to salvage his leadership. This internal turmoil is compounded by stagnant economic growth and low polling numbers, where Labour continues to trail the hard-right Reform UK party. Under the British parliamentary system, a resignation or successful leadership challenge would trigger an internal party election to select a new Prime Minister without requiring a general national election, a process recently used multiple times by the preceding Conservative government.