Prime Minister Starmer: He now not has any credit score with the British | EUROtoday

interview

As of: February 10, 2026 8:58 p.m

Poor dealing with of the Mandelson case, awful ballot numbers: the ailing Prime Minister Starmer has remained with out a profile for a lot of Brits, says political scientist Guderjan. However, he’ll most likely be capable to keep in workplace for the foreseeable future.

tagesschau.de: British politics has not calmed down for days due to the Epstein information. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is beneath huge stress as a result of he appointed Labor politician Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the USA at a time when his contacts with intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein had been already recognized. Mandelson was launched in 2025, however it’s now clear: his connections to Epstein had been nearer than anticipated. And this now falls again on Starmer – what errors did he make?

Marius Guderjan: In the primary place, Starmer mustn’t have appointed him British ambassador to the US within the first place. This occurred out of the calculation of appointing an skilled man, particularly in these troublesome occasions, who additionally has good relationships with the US authorities beneath Donald Trump and is aware of his means round it.

But they knew about Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein, weighed up what was extra necessary after which underestimated – maybe that was a misjudgment – that this choice would replicate on Starmer. And that the Epstein affair will not be going away, however will probably be with us for some time.

“Mandelson did not follow the usual diplomatic path”

tagesschau.de: High-ranking diplomats are usually checked for his or her integrity – wasn’t that the case with Mandelson or did all of the management mechanisms fail?

Guderjan: Mandelson didn’t comply with the standard diplomatic route. Ambassador to the USA – that is without doubt one of the most necessary positions a diplomat can obtain. You normally work your means up, first being an envoy in Germany or China and later turning into an envoy within the USA. Mandelson got here from outdoors, not by way of the diplomatic service.

He has been a minister twice earlier than, as soon as beneath Tony Blair and as soon as beneath Gordon Brown, and needed to resign each occasions. And has now been introduced again from outdoors, exactly so as to clean issues over on this troublesome relationship with the USA and to positively form the particular transatlantic relationship between Great Britain and the USA.

To individual

Marius Guderjan is a fellow on the Great Britain Center at Humboldt University in Berlin. He is an professional on British politics, federalism and European integration.

High hurdle for Vote of no confidence

tagesschau.de: Back to Starmer: Over the weekend, his chief of workers Morgan McSweeney resigned, presumably to take his boss out of the firing line. With average success. On Monday, the Scottish Labor chief referred to as for Starmer to resign. How lengthy can the Prime Minister maintain his personal towards the critics throughout the celebration?

Guderjan: It’s troublesome to make a prediction proper now. In the subsequent few weeks – at the least till the subsequent by-election, which is due for a constituency in Greater Manchester in two or three weeks – Starmer will certainly not step down. He can be unlikely to obtain a no-confidence vote from his personal celebration.

This would then need to occur throughout the Labor group within the British Parliament. There, 20 % of the MPs must categorical their mistrust in writing. And that may be a very excessive hurdle – it has by no means occurred earlier than within the historical past of the Labor Party. Therefore, the stress from outdoors must be so nice that Starmer resigns on his personal initiative.

There has now been a push towards Starmer in Scotland due to elections there in May, and naturally there are fears that the affair might have an effect on these and native elections in different elements of the nation. But in the event you now take a look at the federal government, the necessary ministers, the federal government officers and likewise the parliamentary group, you see that everybody there has lined up behind Starmer. His direct opponents and potential successors, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting, have additionally expressed their help for him. This will not change shortly. Starmer additionally gave a speech to the Labor group. According to reviews, he additionally managed to win over the temper and safe help there.

“Not particularly popular”

tagesschau.de: Still, Labor appears nervous. The dialogue over the previous few days has proven this. To what extent does the stress from the precise, i.e. from Reform UK and Nigel Farage, play a task on this stress?

Guderjan: This is actually a troublesome state of affairs for Labor as a result of the celebration and Starmer are within the polls and can’t get out of there.

Overall, Starmer will not be significantly well-liked among the many inhabitants, neither on the left nor on the precise. According to surveys, some individuals cannot actually pinpoint what they do not like about him. You cannot actually do something with him. He cannot get away with explaining and speaking his politics.

This can be as a result of there’s little scope to essentially change something as a result of the state lacks the monetary sources. And in the event you then make social cuts, which significantly have an effect on those that are literally Labour’s core voters, you then should not be shocked that the ballot numbers are so unhealthy.

“Also a question of political communication”

tagesschau.de: To put it bluntly – wouldn’t it nearly matter who’s prime minister? Is it the political system that does not work? Normally one would assume that – based mostly on majority voting – there must be clear circumstances within the United Kingdom. But the final prime minister to final two full phrases was Tony Blair.

Guderjan: It has after all been a turbulent time since then, with the Brexit referendum and Corona. Exiting the EU specifically value prime ministers their workplace as a result of they could not deal with it correctly, the majorities had been too slender and the citizens was divided. In precept, I would not say that it does not matter who runs the nation and who’s the pinnacle of presidency. In my opinion it is usually a query of political communication.

Starmer was actually a superb skilled in his previous roles – however maybe he’s not essentially the best, charismatic politician to elucidate and clarify even powerful choices nicely and win individuals over. Others are higher.

The interview was carried out by Jörn Unsöld, tagesschau.de