PM’s supporters say new Left-wing agenda would require fresh mandate Daily Telegraph 06/02/26 A leadership coup by Angela Rayner would trigger a general election, Sir Keir Starmer’s allies warned rebels. Supporters of the Prime Minister said on Friday that Ms Rayner’s Left-wing policy platform would require her to obtain a new mandate from the British people. Ms Rayner, a former deputy prime minister, argued in 2022 that the Tories switching leaders from Boris Johnson to Liz Truss and then to Rishi Sunak required fresh elections. Sir Keir is facing questions about his future as leader after his judgment was called into question over his appointment of Lord Mandelson as ambassador to the US last year, despite the peer’s friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. Ms Rayner reportedly told friends she had warned Sir Keir not to appoint Lord Mandelson because of the public evidence of his friendship with the paedophile. Some Labour MPs have told The Telegraph that Sir Keir has three weeks ...
Daily Telegraph 06/02/26 Is it all over for Keir Starmer, one of Britain’s least popular Prime Ministers? His only hope may be that as Lord Mandelson’s egregious conduct becomes a police matter, it might buy Two-Tier a little time. If investigators don’t begin interviews until next week, he could limp through the weekend and vanish into recess, possibly on another of his foreign trips. After which the PLP will struggle to ditch him before May – even if Labour loses Gorton and Denton, as seems more than possible since blocking Andy Burnham’s attempt to stand as an MP. Today’s car crash press conference should have been a moment, finally, for at least a show of contrition. Instead, it was an exercise in misplaced indignation, Gollum-like self-pity, and the all-too-familiar lawyerly attempt to downplay the nature of Mandelson’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, even though far too much evidence of their friendship has long been in the public domain. In perhaps the worst display of bu...