Dozens of Labour Party lawmakers called on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to resign on Monday, effectively rejecting their leader’s efforts to quell a mutiny in the party ranks and raising the likelihood of a bruising leadership battle.
Mr. Starmer began the day with a speech he hoped would quiet the brewing rebellion, acknowledging the anger expressed by voters last week when they overwhelmingly rejected Labour Party candidates in elections across England, Scotland and Wales.
The results in England, Scotland and Wales have piled pressure on Sir Keir, with some Labour MPs calling for him to set a timetable for his departure, although his cabinet allies have backed him for now.
Labour has lost power in Wales, ending its 27 year-long rule, while the SNP appears likely to remain the largest party in Scotland.
Reform UK has been the big winner in England, picking up more than 1,400 seats and taking control of councils in areas where Labour and the Conservatives have been historically dominant.
During the opposition years, his defenders countered that a stolid technocrat was exactly what the country needed. They sold the former head of the Crown Prosecution Service as the polar opposite of Boris Johnson, who was driven from Downing Street in part by Starmer’s own forensic questioning. If only Starmer had lived up to the billing of his detractors, reluctantly conceded by his allies, he wouldn’t be in the hole he finds himself this weekend.
Instead, he now has to rely on a defence that is lawyerly in the worst sense of that word. To have knowingly misled parliament is, in political terms, a capital crime. So the PM has to proceed on two tracks, one for “knowingly” the other for “misled”.
It reads: “Bill to require parliamentary approval for the deployment of UK armed forces and military equipment for armed conflict; to require parliamentary approval for the granting of permission by ministers for use of UK military bases and equipment by other nations for armed conflict; to require the withdrawal of that permission in circumstances where parliamentary approval is not granted; to provide for certain exemptions from these requirements; to make provision for retrospective parliamentary approval in certain circumstances; and for connected purposes.”
(today)
The alliance is between the resurgent Green Party, the new left-wing Your Party, the parliamentary Independent Alliance of independent MPs and Labour backbenchers.
Jeremy Corbyn, former Labour leader and parliamentary leader of the new Your Party, on Thursday tabled a parliamentary bill with cross-party backing that would require parliament‘s approval for the foreign use of British military bases.
It comes in response to Prime Minister Keir Starmer‘s decision on Sunday night to allow the US to use UK military bases for the purpose of targeting Iranian missile sites.
The survey also found that Keir Starmer’s approval rating has hit a record low, with just 15% of respondents approving of his leadership, giving him a net score of -49. The figure is lower than that of Theresa May, Boris Johnson, or Rishi Sunak at the least popular points in their premierships.
This poll follows Labour’s crushing defeat in the Gorton and Denton by-election earlier this week, where the Green Party captured a seat it had never won before
„We have taken the decision to accept this request to prevent Iran from firing missiles across the region, killing innocent civilians, putting British lives at risk and hitting countries that have not been involved.
„The basis of our decision is the collective self-defence of long-standing friends and allies, and protecting British lives.“
The UK reportedly shot down a missile heading towards a base housing its service personnel in Iraq on Saturday.
If Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar‘s desire to dislodge Sir Keir Starmer had had public accomplices, that could have been it.
There was a crucial pivot point on Monday afternoon when things could have gone in one of two ways.
If others had said Sir Keir should go, he might not have got to the end of the day without announcing his departure.
But instead, there was a rallying of support from the cabinet and from various wings of the Labour Party.
Wes Streeting has been accused of orchestrating a coup against Sir Keir Starmer after claims emerged he talked to Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar two days before Mr Sarwar called on the prime minister to resign.
Sources said the pair are thought to have discussed the current political situation in the Labour party, with many blaming the health secretary for Mr Sarwar’s intervention, according to the Telegraph.
Streeting added that he had „never been a shrinking violent (violet) on Israel. He said he had supported the pro-Israel lobbying group, Labour Friends of Israel, „for over 20 years“.
Mandelson responded that „I am worried that such a gesture now could blow a [two-state solution] out of the water“.
Streeting said that „Israel is doing it anyway“, and added: „This is rogue state behaviour. Let them pay the price as pariahs with sanctions applied to the state, not just a few ministers.“
The health secretary said he was sharing the messages with Sky News because of an attempt to „smear“ him over the weekend by suggestions he was „close friends“ with Lord Mandelson.
Mr Streeting has long been seen as on leadership manoeuvres and may otherwise be thought to be a potential beneficiary if Sir Keir were to resign as prime minister.
The Scottish Labour leader made the intervention in a press conference in Glasgow this afternoon as he attacked the „failures“ in Downing Street in the wake of revelations surrounding Peter Mandelson‘s links to Jeffrey Epstein and fears over damage the scandal may do to his party‘s chances at the Holyrood elections in May.
He told reporters his first priority is to Scotland and that he did not want to “sacrifice” the country to a third decade of an SNP government.
(February 6, 2026)
Now attention is turning to the ramifications of the scandal in Scotland ahead of the Holyrood election in May.
Anas Sarwar could prove another casualty of the spectacular fallout from the collapse of Lord Mandelson’s reputation.
Lord Mandelson’s continued friendship with Epstein has been public knowledge since the Financial Times reported in 2023 that the peer stayed at the convicted paedophile’s home in Manhattan in 2009, while he was in prison for child sex offences.
Tory and Labour governments in Britain have provided every conceivable form of support for Israel’s genocidal project in Gaza. Peter Oborne, an independent-minded conservative journalist, has now provided us with a definitive record of their complicity.
Fearless and forensic, this incendiary indictment from one of Britain’s most celebrated political journalists lays bare the full extent of British complicity in the destruction of Gaza.
In a gripping narrative informed by original reporting, Peter Oborne tells how Britain’s Conservative and Labour parties converged to back Israel’s criminal assault—in the process occupying disturbing common ground with the far right.
Rather than challenge this political cartel, British media colluded in its misrepresentations. The shocking result was that, as British authorities helped Israel set Gaza as well as international law aflame, almost everything the public was told about this momentous conflagration was untrue.
When citizens still turned out in their hundreds of thousands to demand a ceasefire, roiling the nation’s politics as they stayed faithful to the ancient British tradition of popular protest in defence of liberty, the political-media machine bared its fangs. The investigative reporting in this book exposes the methods by which peaceful demonstrations were smeared as “hate marches”.
Formerly chief political commentator at the Daily Telegraph and Spectator, Oborne knows the British establishment from within. In this book he names names and provides receipts. His demand is accountability—for atrocities, and their accomplices.
Last week, the Express reported in detail on how Palantir secured a „record“ £240 million deal with the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) in late 2025, forming part of a wider, more extensive, and occasionally undisclosed, £670m+ package of agreements with the UK government. Peter Mandelson played a significant role with Global Counsel, a consultancy that lobbied for Palantir and was was viewed as enabling the firm‘s access to the Starmer government. The tight relationship between the UK government and Palantir attracted fierce scrutiny owing to Palantir‘s connections to Donald Trump (via co-founder Peter Thiel) and its participation in contentious AI-powered military surveillance.
As Mandelson‘s slimy rise and slippery fall have been documented over the years, it seems extraordinary that he could have lasted this long. Let‘s hope this sorry latest scandal relating to Epstein will be the last we hear of the Prince of Darkness
Peter Mandelson, the former British ambassador to the United States and one of his country’s most influential and controversial political figures of the past three decades, resigned from the Labour Party Sunday night and may face removal from the House of Lords amid renewed scrutiny over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, the late financier and convicted sex offender.
(January 13, 2026)
Greenland’s energy minister asked British lawmakers for help in the face of “bewildering” U.S. aggression.
LONDON — The U.K. government must “dare to have principles” and help Greenland repel threats from Donald Trump, a senior minister in Greenland’s government told lawmakers in London.
(June 2, 2025)
The Reform UK leader has previously spoken in favour of US president Donald Trump’s plans for the ethnic cleansing of the Gaza Strip, which Israel’s government is looking to move forward.
Writing for GB News last year after Labour suspended around 10% of the UK’s weapon export licences to Israel amid fears the nation was breaching international law, Farage said: “I feel all over the world that Israel is running out of friends. And I wonder right now, is Israel still really an ally of this country?”
Lawmakers are also perplexed by the timing of the briefing. After an unsteady first 16 months in office left Starmer one of the most unpopular British prime ministers on record, Labour MPs had previously signaled that the prime minister would not face a serious leadership contest until after local elections in May 2026, giving his government time to reverse its decline in the polls.
(October 28, 2025)
British military equipment has been found on battlefields in Sudan, used by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group accused of genocide, according to documents seen by the UN security council.
(…)
Months after the UN security council first received material alleging that the UAE may have supplied British-made items to the RSF, new data indicates that the British government went on to approve further exports to the Gulf state for military equipment of the same type.
British engines made specifically for a type of UAE-manufactured armoured personnel carrier also appear to have been exported to the Emirates, despite evidence that the vehicles had been used in Libya and Yemen in defiance of UN arms embargos.
Police arrested nearly 500 more pro-Palestine demonstrators on Saturday—including many Jewish activists—who participated in a protest calling for the government to “Lift the Ban” on the protest group Palestine Action, which was outlawed under Britain’s anti-terrorism law in July.
Those arrested included an 83-year-old Anglican priest, the 79-year-old daughter of a Holocaust survivor, and a 79-year-old Jewish man with terminal illness, among hundreds of others who held signs in opposition to the ban as part of a “silent vigil.”
(…=
“The right to protest is a fundamental freedom in our country. However, this freedom must be balanced with the freedom of their neighbours to live their lives without fear,” said Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood. “Large, repeated protests can leave sections of our country, particularly religious communities, feeling unsafe, intimidated, and scared to leave their homes. This has been particularly evident in relation to the considerable fear within the Jewish community, which has been expressed to me on many occasions in these recent difficult days.”
Police made a number of arrests on suspicion of supporting the banned group Palestine Action at a protest outside the Labour party conference in Liverpool on Sunday
In the face of the growing horror in the Middle East…
We are acting to keep alive the possibility of peace and a Two State Solution.
That means a safe and secure Israel…
Alongside a viable Palestinian State –
At the moment, we have neither.
Ordinary people – Israeli and Palestinian…
Deserve to live in peace –
To try to rebuild their lives…
Free from violence and suffering.
That’s what the British people desperately want to see.
The UK, Canada, and Australia have officially announced their recognition of a Palestinian state.
The historic move comes ahead of the UN General Assembly session in New York, which will begin on Monday.
France is expected to imminently follow suit.
On June 4, Corbyn tabled a bill in the House of Commons calling for an independent inquiry into the UK’s involvement in Israeli military operations in Gaza, including the supply of weapons, surveillance aircraft and the use of Royal Air Force bases. That bill, backed by dozens of MPs and supported by more than 20 aid groups, was ultimately blocked by the ruling Labour Party.
“If the government won’t organise a public open inquiry, if Parliament won’t effectively inquire into what’s going on, it remains for us to do it,” said Corbyn. “This [event] will strengthen our arguments both in Parliament and outside … An awful lot of what’s going on is completely illegal and shouldn’t be hidden from.”
Find out more about the inquiry into Britain‘s role in Israeli war crimes in Gaza.