Labour leadership crisis after Mandelson sacking over Epstein emails

Prime Minister Keir Starmer is facing an intensifying leadership crisis as Labour MPs openly question his judgment following the abrupt sacking this week of Lord Peter Mandelson as the UK ambassador to the United States, and as several senior figures and polls point to a potential challenge before next May’s local elections. The revelations about Mandelson’s correspondence with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have prompted resignations, recriminations and speculation that Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham could seek a return to Westminster to contest the party leadership.

Downing Street says Mandelson was withdrawn after new material emerged about the emails late on Wednesday, but some accounts say officials were alerted to damning correspondence as early as Tuesday in a memo from Bloomberg. That discrepancy has added to anger among backbenchers who argue the appointment and the handling of the fallout exposed poor judgment at the centre of government. Several ministers and MPs have privately and publicly questioned the role of the prime minister’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, and whether Downing Street knew more, sooner, than the prime minister indicated in...