British Epstein affair: Replacing Keir Starmer is not a solution either

W If changing the head of government were the key to better governance, Britain would have to be the best-governed country in the Western world. That is not the case; there is agreement across all British political camps on this point. Keir Starmer is already the sixth prime minister in ten years, he is the least popular of them all, and the seventh may soon follow. The service cats at 10 Downing Street survive much longer and are more popular.

Starmer’s problems are homemade. His reflex in times of crisis is to hunker down in the hope that everything will pass. This works as long as his environment shields him. But In the Mandelson affair, those around him came into the direct line of fire and no longer participates.

The responsibility for the decision, the discredited old one To bring New Labor guru Peter Mandelson out of obscurity and giving him the ambassadorship in Washington, against the will of the responsible ministry, is the responsibility of Keir Starmer, not officials and advisors. We needed a snake for the Trump snake pit, is one of the many colorful excuses in Labor circles for Mandelson’s appointment since the extent of his involvement in Jeffrey Epstein’s criminal activities was revealed.

But the fact that Mandelson’s favorites hold key positions in Starmer’s government apparatus is not Trump’s fault. It’s down to Starmer and his trust in the unscrupulous power politicians from the Tony Blair era – they once gave Labor three election victories and thirteen years in power, and Starmer also wants to rule for a long time in order to “serve the country”, as he always says.

Starmer has personal integrity, say everyone who knows him. But like all successful Labor leaders before him, he was gripped by the obsession that he was carrying out a higher mission to renew Britain. Tony Blair became megalomaniac with this thinking. His strategist Mandelson sees all Labor leaders from Blair to Starmer as his sorcerer’s apprentices. You can certainly achieve a lot with a sense of mission. But you become alienated from your own country and you are very alone with your mistakes.

Should Keir Starmer leave? The majority of Brits want that. But do they really want Labor self-destruction after the Tory self-destruction, which might pave the way for Nigel Farage, who would multiply all the evils of concentration of power? Starmer is certainly not a particularly good prime minister. But nothing better is available right now.