More Than Half Of Voters Think Starmer Should Quit Amid Mandelson Scandal
More than half of voters believe Keir Starmer should resign as prime minister, a new poll has revealed.
The damning findings pile fresh pressure on the PM amid the ongoing scandal over his decision to appoint disgraced Peter Mandelson as the UK’s ambassador to Washington.
The former Labour peer faces a criminal investigation into allegations he passed market-sensitive information to the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein when he was business secretary between 2008 and 2010.
Starmer has accused Mandelson of “betraying” Britain and lying to him when he was being considered for the ambassador’s job.
According to the Opinium survey, 55% of British adults think Starmer should stand down, compared to just 23% who think he should stay in post.
Some 56% believe Starmer should have anticipated the controversy surrounding Mandelson and not made ambassador, with just 15% thinking the decision was reasonable based on what was known at the time.
More than one-third (37%) of people who voted Labour at the 2024 general election believe he needs to go, with 48% want him to stay in post.
Starmer’s overall approval rating has also plunged to an all-time low of minus 44, the poll found.
Opinium’s James Crouch said: The deepening fallout from the Mandelson appointment has pushed Starmer’s rating even lower, with most voters now questioning his judgement on the appointment and placing equal blame on the prime minister and his advisers.”
The findings are even worse for the PM than a separate poll by YouGov, which found that 50% of the public want him to resign.
One senior Labour source told HuffPost UK that he believed Starmer would quit if the release of government documents into Mandelson’s appointment show he ignored warnings about his suitability for the role.
The source said: “If the report shows he ignored advice, I’m sure he’ll resign. That’s the honourable way and he still has that notion within him.”