Keir Starmer is fighting for survival after a Scottish Labour MP delivered a devastating verdict on his leadership. Brian Leishman claimed the Prime Minister looks like a “boxer on his last legs” and should ask himself if he still has the strength to go on, as the Peter Mandelson Jeffrey Epstein scandal threatens to bring the government down.
The explosive intervention comes just 24 hours after Morgan McSweeney quit as Starmer’s chief of staff and follows fresh revelations that Mandelson stayed in touch with the convicted paedophile Epstein for years after 2008.
Leishman Turns on Starmer in Brutal Private Message
Brian Leishman, the newly elected MP for Alloa and Grangemouth, did not hold back in a WhatsApp group for Scottish Labour MPs.
He wrote: “Keir needs to have a long hard look at himself and ask if he is the right man to take us forward. He looks like a boxer on his last legs.”
The message, first reported by the Daily Record, also blamed Starmer directly for Scottish Labour’s dismal polling ahead of the 2026 Holyrood election.
Leishman told colleagues the party is heading for “a kicking” in Scotland because voters no longer trust the UK leader.
One Scottish Labour source said: “Brian speaks for a lot of people right now. The mood is toxic.”
Mandelson Stayed Friends with Epstein After Conviction
Court documents unsealed in America last month showed Peter Mandelson exchanged dozens of emails and phone calls with Jeffrey Epstein between 2008 and 2015, years after the financier pleaded guilty to procuring a child for prostitution.
Mandelson flew on Epstein’s private jet at least twice and stayed at his New York mansion.
Starmer admitted last week he knew about the continued friendship before appointing Mandelson as Britain’s ambassador to Washington in December.
The Prime Minister insisted Mandelson had been properly vetted and posed no security risk.
But the revelation has sparked fury across the Labour Party and beyond.
McSweeney Exit Leaves Starmer Badly Weakened
Morgan McSweeney walked out of Downing Street on Sunday evening after weeks of briefings against him and growing anger over the Mandelson appointment.
Sources say McSweeney believed the Epstein links made Mandelson’s position untenable and urged Starmer to withdraw the offer. The Prime Minister refused.
One Downing Street insider told the Daily Record: “Morgan thought this would finish Keir. He couldn’t stay and watch it happen.”
McSweeney’s departure removes Starmer’s most trusted political strategist at the worst possible moment.
Leishman Demands Full Public Inquiry
Brian Leishman has gone further than any other Labour MP by demanding a judge-led public inquiry into Mandelson’s Epstein links.
Speaking exclusively to the Daily Record, the Scottish MP said: “The public deserve to know exactly what Peter Mandelson knew, when he knew it, and why Keir Starmer thought it was acceptable to send him to Washington.”
He added: “This isn’t just about one appointment. It’s about judgment at the very top of government.”
Senior Labour figures fear more MPs will break cover in the coming days.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has so far refused to criticise Starmer publicly, but private polling shows the party trailing the SNP by double digits.
One Holyrood candidate said: “Voters keep bringing up Mandelson and Epstein on the doorstep. It’s killing us.”
The Prime Minister faces a torrid few weeks. Rebel MPs are openly discussing letters of no confidence, while Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has promised to make the scandal the centrepiece of her attack on Labour.
Keir Starmer once promised the most ethical government in history.
Fifteen months into the job, that pledge lies in tatters, and his own MPs are asking the question many thought unthinkable last summer: how much longer can he survive?
The Mandelson Epstein scandal has exposed deep fractures inside Labour and raised serious questions about Starmer’s judgment that will not go away.
For a Prime Minister who won a landslide just months ago, the end may be coming far sooner than anyone predicted.
What do you think? Is this the beginning of the end for Keir Starmer? Drop your thoughts below.
