分类： politics

LONDON – Just months after Keir Starmer’s Labour Party took national power, the British prime minister’s hold on the nation’s top office is facing unprecedented turmoil, triggered by a devastating string of losses in last week’s local government elections that have amplified long-simmering anger within his own party over a controversial ambassadorial appointment.

The poor local election performance has emerged as a breaking point for Starmer, whose credibility has already been damaged by widespread backlash over his decision to appoint veteran Labour figure Peter Mandelson as the UK’s ambassador to the United States. The appointment sparked outrage over Mandelson’s well-documented personal ties to disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a scandal that has lingered and eroded trust in Starmer’s judgment among lawmakers and voters alike.

Already, dozens of sitting Labour Members of Parliament have publicly called for Starmer to step down, clearing the way for an open leadership contest to select a new party leader who would immediately assume the role of prime minister. So far, Starmer has repeatedly refused to resign, stating publicly that he intends to remain in post, and no formal challenge to his leadership has yet been formally registered with the party. While no candidate has yet emerged as the clear frontrunner to replace Starmer if a vacancy opens up, several senior Labour figures have been flagged as the most likely contenders for the leadership.

Wes Streeting, 43, currently serves as the UK’s Health Secretary, and is widely viewed as one of the current government’s most effective and charismatic public communicators. He has been handed the responsibility of delivering one of Labour’s core election pledges: fixing the chronically underfunded and overstretched National Health Service. Rumors of Streeting’s leadership ambitions have circulated for years, and they burst into public view last year, when allies of Starmer reportedly briefed British media that the prime minister would aggressively fend off any attempt to oust him – with most media speculation at the time pointing directly to Streeting as the would-be challenger. Since being elected to Parliament in 2015, Streeting has repeatedly denied any secret plot to replace Starmer, dismissing such claims as completely unfounded “nonsense.”

Another top potential candidate is Angela Rayner, the former deputy prime minister with a well-known working-class origin story. Now 46, Rayner grew up in public social housing, left formal schooling at age 16, and became a teen mother, a background that has shaped her political brand as a voice for working people. Before entering Parliament in 2015, she was a prominent trade union organizer, and she aligns with the left wing of the Labour Party. She rose quickly through the party’s ranks during Labour’s years in opposition, and was elected deputy party leader in 2020. Rayner holds substantial grassroots support across the party, but she was forced to resign from the current cabinet last year after acknowledging she had underpaid tax on a property purchase. She remains waiting for the outcome of an official parliamentary inquiry into the tax controversy, a cloud that hangs over any potential leadership bid. In the wake of new revelations about Mandelson’s ties to Epstein from newly released Epstein documents, Rayner led a rebellion of backbench Labour lawmakers that forced the government to allow Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee to take control of decisions over which related documents will be declassified and released to the public.

Andy Burnham, 56, the popular center-left mayor of Greater Manchester and a former national cabinet minister, has long been marked as a potential challenger to Starmer. But his path to the leadership hit a major setback in February, when the national Labour Party blocked him from standing as the party’s candidate in a recent parliamentary by-election. By longstanding constitutional convention, the UK prime minister must be a sitting member of the House of Commons, so Burnham’s supporters are pushing for any leadership contest to be delayed, which would give him time to win a seat in Parliament through a future by-election. Burnham brings extensive experience from past Labour governments, having previously served as both culture secretary and health secretary in previous national administrations.

Ed Miliband, 56, the current Energy Secretary and a former Labour Party leader, is another experienced potential contender. Miliband led the party for five years during its time in opposition, but his tenure ended after Labour lost the 2015 general election. Miliband has publicly downplayed any interest in returning to the top party leadership role, but he remains one of the most experienced and well-respected senior figures in the current Labour cabinet.

Rounding out the list of likely contenders is Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, 45, who holds one of the most high-stakes roles in the current government, with oversight of immigration policy, law enforcement, and domestic security. Her moves to strengthen border controls and crack down on unauthorized immigration have made her a favorite among centrist and right-leaning members of the Parliamentary Labour Party.

LONDON — Just eight months after securing a landslide general election victory, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is fighting for his political survival, confirming to his Cabinet on Tuesday that he refuses to step down even as internal dissent within his own Labour Party reaches a fever pitch.

The current crisis erupted last week after the Labour Party suffered devastating losses across local elections nationwide. Political analysts warn that if the poor performance is replicated in a future national vote, the party could be swept out of power in a historic rout. The disappointing results laid bare long-simmering frustrations with Starmer’s leadership, triggering a wave of calls for his departure from within party ranks.

So far, more than 70 Labour backbench members of Parliament — nearly one-fifth of the party’s total representation in the House of Commons — have publicly called on Starmer to either resign immediately or outline a clear timeline for his exit. Notably, no lawmaker has yet launched a formal leadership challenge against Starmer, a move that would require meeting a minimum threshold of parliamentary support under party rules. Even so, the number of lawmakers calling for change signals deep and widespread discontent across the party.

The rebellion gained traction on Tuesday when junior minister Miatta Fahnbulleh resigned from her post in the housing, communities and local government department. A prominent figure on the Labour left, Fahnbulleh issued a public statement urging Starmer to “do the right thing for the country” and make way for new leadership. In her resignation notice, she argued the current government has failed to deliver the transformative change voters mandated in last year’s general election, and has not governed with a clear, consistent set of core Labour values. “Nor have we governed as a Labour Party clear about our values and strong in our convictions,” she wrote.

Starmer’s rapid drop in popularity since his July 2024 landslide victory stems from a range of interconnected issues. Critics point to repeated policy missteps, a widespread perception that the prime minister lacks a clear governing vision, ongoing stagnation in the British economy, and major questions over his political judgment — most notably his controversial appointment of Peter Mandelson as U.K. Ambassador to the United States, despite Mandelson’s well-documented personal ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Last week’s local election results also underscored a dramatic shift in the United Kingdom’s political landscape: the traditional two-party system long dominated by Labour and the Conservative Party is fracturing, with Labour losing significant support to both the right-wing populist Reform UK (an anti-immigration party) and the left-leaning Green Party, which campaigned on an eco-populist platform.

Opening Tuesday’s emergency Cabinet meeting, Starmer acknowledged his responsibility for the poor local election results but immediately doubled down on his commitment to stay in office. He reminded his ministers that Labour’s internal rules require a formal leadership challenge to gather the support of at least one-fifth of the party’s sitting MPs — a threshold that currently stands at 81 signatures, a mark challengers have not yet hit — and that no formal ousting process has been triggered.

“The country expects us to get on with governing,” Starmer told the gathering. “That is what I am doing and what we must do.”

Under British law, the next national general election is not required to be held until 2029, and the UK political system allows parties to replace a sitting prime minister mid-term without triggering a national vote. Starmer has already moved to shore up his position, launching his fightback with a combative speech to detractors on Monday. He is also set to push forward with an ambitious slate of new legislative proposals, which will be formally announced by King Charles III during the State Opening of Parliament on Wednesday, in a bid to regain momentum and reframe his premiership.

Danica Kirka contributed reporting from London.

KYIV, Ukraine — In a move that sends significant ripples through Ukraine’s political landscape amid its bid for European Union membership, two of the country’s leading anti-corruption watchdogs have formally named former presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak as an official suspect in a large-scale money laundering investigation.

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office made the announcement public via the Telegram messaging platform late Monday, detailing that the alleged scheme involves roughly 460 million Ukrainian hryvnia, equal to around $10.5 million. Investigators confirmed that the case remains active and ongoing, with the formal suspect designation coming before any official criminal charges are filed.

Yermak, who stepped down from his post in November, previously served as Ukraine’s lead negotiator in high-stakes talks with the United States. His resignation came amid a growing political scandal that has emerged as the most significant challenge to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s administration since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of the country in 2022.

Once one of Zelenskyy’s closest and most trusted confidants, Yermak held considerable power within the Ukrainian government. Zelenskyy for months resisted widespread calls to remove Yermak from his role, a fact that makes the current corruption probe deeply politically damaging for the president as he works to advance Ukraine’s EU accession agenda. Long-standing systemic corruption is widely cited as one of the key barriers slowing Kyiv’s progress toward membership, a process that is already projected to take years to complete.

Investigators allege that Yermak was complicit in laundering illicit funds through a series of construction projects located in the outskirts of Kyiv. Authorities executed a search of Yermak’s personal residence back in November, and no additional suspects have been publicly named as part of the investigation to date.

Zelenskyy has so far declined to issue any public comment on the anti-corruption agencies’ announcement. His press spokesperson, Dmytro Lytvyn, stated that with the investigation still unfolding, it is too premature to draw any definitive conclusions about the case. A final decision on whether to file formal criminal charges against Yermak could still be months away, according to official updates.

At the time of Yermak’s departure from the presidential office, Zelenskyy framed the resignation as part of a broader restructuring of his administration, publicly thanking Yermak for his work leading international peace negotiations.

LONDON – Just eight months after securing a landslide national general election victory, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer finds himself locked in a battle to hold onto his office, following a catastrophic string of losses for his Labour Party in last week’s local elections. Political analysts warn that if the poor local election performance is replicated at the next national vote, Labour will be swept out of power entirely.

Starmer has borne the brunt of growing frustration within the party over plummeting public approval, with multiple factors driving the downward trend. Critics point to a string of poorly executed policy missteps, a widespread perception that the prime minister has failed to articulate a clear, compelling long-term vision for the country, and ongoing turbulence in the British economy. Additional questions have been raised about Starmer’s political judgment, most notably over his decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as British ambassador to Washington, despite Mandelson’s well-documented connections to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

While the next UK general election is not constitutionally required to be held until 2029, British parliamentary rules allow a governing party to replace its leader mid-term without triggering a full national vote. A growing bloc of Labour lawmakers is now pushing for an immediate leadership change, arguing it is the only way to steady the beleaguered government and fend off electoral threats from both the far right and far left of UK politics.

“We have to change and we have to do it quickly,” said Labour Member of Parliament Catherine West. “We have to lay out a timetable and we have to turn this ship around.” Despite the growing calls for departure, ousting a sitting Labour leader is far from a simple process, as the party has no recent institutional history of removing mid-term leaders, unlike the main opposition Conservative Party.

There are multiple pathways that could lead to Starmer’s exit, varying widely in complexity. The most straightforward scenario would see Starmer voluntarily announce his resignation, which would automatically trigger a formal leadership contest. Such an announcement could come as soon as this week, if Starmer’s own Cabinet members deliver a clear message at their weekly Tuesday meeting that he has lost the confidence of the parliamentary party.

If Starmer steps down immediately, the Cabinet and Labour’s National Executive Committee would appoint an interim prime minister and interim party leader, typically a figure not running in the leadership contest. Current Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy is widely seen as a likely fit for this temporary role.

Under Labour’s formal rulebook, any candidate for leader must secure the backing of at least one-fifth of the party’s sitting House of Commons lawmakers – a threshold that currently stands at 81 supporters. More than 70 Labour MPs have already publicly called on Starmer to lay out a departure timetable, a clear signal of widespread internal discontent, even though no formal challenge has yet been launched.

Once candidates meet the parliamentary support threshold, they must then secure backing from 5% of local Labour constituency parties, or from at least three major affiliated groups including trade unions and cooperative societies. After that, eligible party members and affiliate representatives vote through a ranked-choice electoral system, with the first candidate to win a majority of votes declared the winner. The final step would see King Charles III formally invite the new leader to form a government and take office as prime minister.

Thus far, Starmer has shown no willingness to step aside. On Monday, he reaffirmed his refusal to resign, arguing that leaving office mid-term would “plunge the country into chaos”. If Starmer digs in, he could still face a formal leadership challenge from one or more sitting Labour MPs.

West was the first lawmaker to openly signal a potential challenge, saying Saturday that she would launch a leadership bid if the Cabinet failed to remove Starmer by Monday. She has acknowledged that she currently falls far short of the 81 parliamentary backers needed to force a contest, framing her move instead as an effort to pressure higher-profile potential contenders to enter the race.

Unlike the Conservatives, which removed sitting prime ministers Margaret Thatcher in 1990 and Boris Johnson in 2022, Labour has no recent tradition of mid-term leader ousters. No sitting Labour prime minister has ever been forcibly removed from office, though former prime minister Tony Blair did announce his planned resignation in 2006 following years of low-level internal pressure.

If a formal challenge is launched, any eligible candidates would need to meet the same support thresholds outlined above, while Starmer would automatically be placed on the ballot as the incumbent leader.

Multiple high-ranking Labour figures are already seen as potential contenders if a leadership contest opens up. Health Secretary Wes Streeting has long been linked to leadership ambitions, as has former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, who stepped down from her post last year after admitting she underpaid taxes on a property purchase; an official investigation into the matter is still ongoing.

Andy Burnham, the widely popular mayor of Greater Manchester, is often cited as one of the strongest potential candidates, but he is currently ineligible to stand for leader because he does not hold a seat in Parliament. Earlier this year, Labour party officials blocked Burnham from running in a special parliamentary by-election, but political insiders say a path could be cleared if Starmer signals he will step down by Labour’s annual autumn conference in September. In that scenario, a sitting Labour MP in a safe seat could resign to trigger a by-election, giving Burnham a chance to win a seat in the Commons. Even that would be no guarantee, however, given the scale of Labour’s recent losses in local contests.