British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has denied rumors of resignation after the dismissal of chief adviser Morgan McSweeney and communications director Tim Allan due to the scandal involving former ambassador to the US Peter Mendelsohn and his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
This was reported by the Prime Ministerʼs administration, Sky News reports.
It noted that Starmer is “focused on working and implementing reforms across the country” and has the unanimous support of the Cabinet. On February 5, Starmer apologized for Ambassador Mendelsohn receiving $75 000 from Epstein.
The prime minister has insisted that the new scandal does not affect his plans for the government. However, the leader of the Scottish branch of the Labour Party, Anas Sarwar, has called on the prime minister to resign, which could affect Starmerʼs internal support within the party.
The Mendelsohn scandal led to a series of staff changes at Downing Street. In particular, on February 8, the Prime Ministerʼs chief adviser and chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, resigned.
He is believed to be responsible for the appointment of Peter Mandelson as British Ambassador to the United States. Mandelson, in turn, had close ties to Jeffrey Epstein. Following the revelations, Mandelson reported his resignation from the Labour Party.
Tim Allan also left his position as communications director on February 9, saying he was leaving to “build a new team at Downing Street”. He served in the position for just five months, joining in September 2025.
The Jeffrey Epstein case
American financier Jeffrey Epstein was first arrested in 2008. He was convicted of sex with minors and organizing prostitution. After 13 months in prison, the financier made a deal with prosecutors and was released. In 2019, he was charged with new charges of human trafficking.
At the time, it was reported that the FBI had discovered thousands of names of famous people in Epsteinʼs notebook, including former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, and billionaire Richard Branson. This sparked a series of accusations and suspicions against famous people that they may have used Epsteinʼs services.
Epstein was arrested a second time on July 7, and on August 10, 2019, he committed suicide in prison. In December 2023, a US court ordered the release of the names of more than 170 people from Epsteinʼs inner circle.
Donald Trump has also been accused of having ties to Epstein. Trump and Epstein were allegedly friends and attended the same parties in the 1990s. However, Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against journalists who covered this information.
In November, it became known that dozens of references to Ukraine were found among Jeffrey Epsteinʼs documents. Among other things, the names of politician Oleksandr Vilkul and former President Leonid Kuchma appear there.
On December 19, the US Department of Justice released the first selection of the “Epstein files”. Among the tens of thousands of documents that were censored are many photos of famous people. Less than a day after the publication, at least 16 files related to Epstein disappeared from the US Department of Justice website. Among them was a photo with Trump.
The US Department of Justice published a new set of documents on January 30. They found information that Microsoft founder Bill Gates was diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection after communicating with "Russian girls", and that Epstein helped him purchase medication.
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