Resisting resignation calls, British premier says he is 'not prepared to walk away' from mandate

By Aysu Bicer

LONDON (AA) - Resisting calls to resign, British Premier Keir Starmer said Monday that he is “not prepared to walk away” from his mandate as prime minister as he seeks to shore up support within his party amid the fallout over the Peter Mandelson scandal.

Speaking during a meeting of Labour Party lawmakers, he pointed to his record in previous roles and within the party, saying: “I have won every fight I’ve ever been in.”

He cited his time at the Crown Prosecution Service and efforts to reform the Labour Party, adding: “People told me I couldn’t do it. And then they gradually said, you might just get over the line. We won with a landslide majority. Every fight I’ve been in, I have won.”

He acknowledged continuing criticism, saying he had faced “detractors every step along the way, and I’ve got them now.”

He added: “Detractors that don’t want a Labour government at all, and certainly not one to succeed.”

“But I’ll tell you this, after having fought so hard for the chance to change our country, I’m not prepared to walk away from my mandate and my responsibility to my country, or to plunge us into chaos, as others have done,” he concluded.

Last week Starmer said he was "sorry" for believing Mandelson's "lies" and appointing him ambassador to the US as pressure continued to mount after he admitted to knowing about Mandelson's ties with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who died in 2019.

Mandelson was sacked in September, but recently released Epstein files suggested he shared confidential information with the sex offender when he was a British business secretary in 2009.

Mandelson has also stepped down from the House of Lords and the Labour Party itself.

The US Justice Department last month released more than 3 million pages, 2,000 videos, and 180,000 images under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which was signed into law last November.

The materials include photos, grand jury transcripts, and investigative records, though many pages remain heavily redacted. Epstein survivors and victims’ relatives say the release falls short of what the law requires and omits much vital information.