United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer is facing more pressure amid calls to step down over the fallout from the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.
The calls are coming from Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar.
“The distraction needs to end, and the leadership in Downing Street has to change,” he said.
This comes as Starmer’s chief of staff and his communications director quit within the last 24 hours.
The UK prime minister has also come under fire for appointing Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the United States despite his known links to convicted sex offender Epstein.
Starmer’s office made it clear on Monday that he does not plan to step down.
“The prime minister is … getting on with the task of delivering change across the country,” a spokesperson told reporters.
Starmer also emphasised the importance of moving forward after the resignations.
“We must prove that politics can be a force for good. I believe it can. I believe it is. We go forward from here. We go with confidence as we continue changing the country,” Starmer told his Downing Street staff.
Despite calls for him to step down, the UK prime minister has received some support from senior members of his government.
David Lammy, deputy prime minister and justice secretary, said: “We should let nothing distract us from our mission to change Britain, and we support the prime minister in doing that.”
Starmer’s former deputy and potential leadership candidate, Angela Rayner, also offered him “full support” in a post to X, while also acknowledging the Mandelson scandal.
“The recent scandal around Peter Mandelson and Jeffrey Epstein was shocking - and demands that both this government and our party learn the lessons, and act on them,” she said.
“I urge all my colleagues to come together, remember our values and put them into practice as a team.”
Leader of the opposition Conservative Party, Kemi Bednoch, accused Starmer of being unable to run his government.
“He’s like a plastic bag blowing in the wind. We need him to get a grip, and if he can’t do it, then someone else in the Labour Party needs to do that, or they should have an election,” she told Sky News.
Mandelson has been under investigation since his name appeared in the Epstein files that were released by the U.S. Department of Justice.
He was sacked in September over his friendship with Epstein and quit the Labour Party, House of Lords and the upper house chamber of the UK parliament last week.
