British PM Starmer vows to fight for his job after furor about former ambassador's Epstein ties

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer vowed Monday to fight for his job as revelations about the relationship between the former U.K. ambassador to Washington and Jeffrey Epstein spiraled into a full-blown crisis for his 19-month-old government.

The prime minister's authority over his own Labour Party has been battered by fallout from the publication of files related to Epstein — a man he never met and whose sexual misconduct has not implicated Starmer.

Some lawmakers in Starmer's center-left party have called on him to resign for his judgment in appointing Peter Mandelson to the high-profile diplomatic post in 2024 despite his ties to the convicted sex offender. The leader of the Labour Party in Scotland, Anas Sarwar, joined those calls Monday, saying “there have been too many mistakes" and "the leadership in Downing Street has to change.”

Starmer’s chief of staff and his communications director have also quit in quick succession. But Starmer insisted he will not step down.

"Every fight I have ever been in, I've won," he told Labour lawmakers at a meeting in Parliament.

“I'm not prepared to walk away from my mandate and my responsibility to my country,” he added.

After Sarwar spoke, senior colleagues — including those tipped as potential challengers — rallied to support Starmer. Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy wrote on X: "We should let nothing distract us from our mission to change Britain and we support the Prime Minister in doing that."

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper posted: "At this crucial time for the world, we need his leadership not just at home but on the global stage." Former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, a potential successor, said Starmer “has my full support.”

Supportive lawmakers said Starmer won over a restive crowd when he addressed scores of Labour members of Parliament Monday evening behind closed doors.

“Of course, there were tough moments,” legislator Chris Curtis said. “But he really brought the room round.”

Starmer fired Mandelson last September after emails were published showing that he maintained a friendship with Epstein after the financier’s 2008 conviction for sex offenses involving a minor. Critics say Starmer should have known better than to appoint Mandelson in the first place. The 72-year-old Labour politician is a contentious figure whose career has been tarnished with scandals over money or ethics.

A new trove of Epstein files released by authorities in the United States on Jan. 30 revealed more details about the relationship and put new pressure on Starmer.

Starmer apologized last week to Epstein's victims and said he was sorry for “having believed Mandelson’s lies.”

He promised to release documentation related to Mandelson’s appointment, which the government says will show that Mandelson misled officials about his ties to Epstein. But publication of the documents could be weeks away. They must be vetted on national security grounds and for potential conflicts with a police investigation.

Police are investigating Mandelson for potential misconduct in public office over documents suggesting he passed sensitive government information to Epstein a decade and a half ago. The offense carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Mandelson has not been arrested or charged, and he does not face any allegations of sexual misconduct.

Starmer’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, took the fall for the decision to give Mandelson the job by quitting on Sunday. He said he “advised the prime minister to make that appointment, and I take full responsibility for that advice.”

McSweeney has been Starmer’s most important aide since he became Labour leader in 2020 and is considered a key architect of Labour’s landslide July 2024 election victory. But some in the party blame him for a series of missteps since then.

Some Labour officials hope that his departure will buy the prime minister time to rebuild trust with the party and the country.

Senior lawmaker Emily Thornberry said McSweeney had become a “divisive figure” and his departure brought the opportunity for a reset.

She said Starmer is “a good leader in that he is strong and clear. I think that he needs to step up a bit more than he has.”

Others say McSweeney's departure leaves Starmer weak and isolated.

Opposition Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said Starmer “has made bad decision after bad decision” and "his position now is untenable.”

Since winning office, Starmer has struggled to deliver promised economic growth, repair tattered public services and ease the cost of living. He pledged a return to honest government after 14 years of scandal-tarred Conservative rule, but has been beset by missteps and U-turns over welfare cuts and other unpopular policies.

Labour consistently lags behind the hard-right Reform UK party in opinion polls, and its failure to improve had sparked talk of a leadership challenge, even before the Mandelson revelations.

Starmer said Monday that Reform UK's politics would “tear this beautiful country apart,” calling the campaign to defeat them “the fight of our times.”

“As long as I have breath in my body, I'll be in that fight,” he said.

Under Britain’s parliamentary system, prime ministers can change without the need for a national election. If Starmer is challenged or resigns, it will trigger an election for the Labour leadership. The winner would become prime minister.

The Conservatives went through three prime ministers between national elections in 2019 and 2024, including Liz Truss, who lasted just 49 days in office.

Starmer was elected on a promise to end the political chaos that roiled the Conservatives’ final years in power.

Labour lawmaker Clive Efford said Starmer’s critics should “be careful what you wish for.”

“I don’t think people took to the changes in prime minister when the Tories were in power," he told the BBC. “It didn't do them any good.”

This story has been corrected to say the Epstein files were published Jan. 30, not last week.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar speaks to the media during a press conference in Glasgow, Scotland, where he is calling on Keir Starmer to resign as Prime Minister, Monday Feb. 9, 2026. (Robert Perry/PA via AP)

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer leaves 10 Downing Street in London, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026.(AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer leaves 10 Downing Street in London, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026.(AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer leaves 10 Downing Street in London, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026.(AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer gets in his car to leave 10 Downing Street in London, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

The front door of 10 Downing Street in London, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

FILE - British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, right, talks with Britain's ambassador to the United States Peter Mandelson during a welcome reception at the ambassador's residence on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025 in Washington. (Carl Court/Pool Photo via AP, file)

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer talks with members of the audience after delivering a speech at Horntye Park Sports Complex in St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, England, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (Peter Nicholls/Pool Photo via AP)

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel's top court on Friday moved to allow international aid groups to keep operating in the Gaza Strip and other Palestinian territories as Israeli strikes killed at least five people across the war-torn enclave.

The Supreme Court's order, which followed a petition from 17 aid groups, effectively halted an earlier Israeli government decision that barred aid groups for refusing to comply with Israel's new rules.

Israel had announced it will ban 37 aid groups by March 1 for not abiding by rules introduced last year that require aid groups to register names and contact information of employees, and provide details about their funding and operations.

The groups view the rules as invasive and arbitrary, and say the ban would hinder critical assistance. Israel says the new measures are necessary to ensure armed groups do not infiltrate humanitarian organizations.

A U.S.-negotiated ceasefire reached in October has halted major military operations. But the two-year war triggered by Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel has left much of the territory in ruins and most of Gaza's 2 million Palestinians reliant on international aid.

Israel has also continued to strike what it says are militants, often killing civilians.

Friday's order was a temporary injunction while the court considers the case. There was no timeline for a final decision.

“This is, however, a step in the right direction — with a long, long way still to go,” said Athena Rayburn, the executive director of AIDA, an umbrella organization representing over 100 groups operating in the Palestinian territories.

The Norwegian Refugee Council, among the aid groups facing a ban, welcomed the injunction but said it offers only partial relief.

“The injunction pauses immediate closure,” council spokesperson Shaina Low said in a statement. “It does not restore visas, reopen access or resolve the wider restrictions that continue to affect aid delivery. ”

United Nations spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said “we desperately need our partners” to continue delivering aid.

The petition said the new rules violate international law, and that Israel, as an occupying power, has the obligation to ensure food and medicine reach people. It also says Israel does not have the authority to shutter organizations in areas under the nominal control of the Palestinian Authority.

COGAT, the Israeli military body overseeing civilian affairs in Gaza, has said that the organizations whose licenses are to be revoked contribute less than 1% of the total aid going into the territory. More than 20 organizations will continue to operate after complying with the new regulations, it said.

Israeli airstrikes overnight killed at least five people, four of them members of the Hamas-run police, officials said Friday.

Such strikes have repeatedly disrupted the truce since it took effect in October. The escalating Palestinian death toll has left many in Gaza feeling as though the war never ended.

Three of the five were killed by a strike on a police checkpoint in southern Gaza near Khan Younis, said Dr. Ahmed al-Farra at Nasser Hospital. Another died in a strike on a checkpoint in Bureij refugee camp, according to a statement from the Hamas-run Interior Ministry, which oversees police in Gaza.

A separate strike in western Khan Younis killed one Palestinian, al-Farra said.

The Israeli military said it killed several militants in Rafah, on the border with Egypt. It said the strikes were in response to a violation of the ceasefire.

The Hamas-run police force has continued to operate in the half the territory under the group's control. The ceasefire agreement calls for Hamas to disarm and hand over power to a committee of Palestinian administrators, and for Israel to withdraw as international forces are deployed. There is no firm timeline for implementing those aspects of the agreement.

Masked men attacked Israeli and Palestinian civilians Friday in the occupied West Bank, injuring two Israelis who were taken to a hospital, the Israeli military said in a statement. The military said attack in the village of Qusra was carried out by “masked Israeli civilians.”

Video posted on social media by the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem showed at least four masked people brandishing clubs as they exited a vehicle and began chasing bystanders. Footage of the attack’s aftermath showed two people lying on the ground bleeding.

Attacks by Israeli settlers in the West Bank have been increasing for years but spiked after October 2023.

The Israeli military's statement condemned the violence Friday, saying authorities were searching for the attackers.

Palestinians and rights groups say Israeli authorities routinely fail to prosecute settlers or hold them accountable for violence.

Also in the West Bank, the U.S. Embassy began offering consular services for the first time Friday in an Israeli settlement.

The move continues a shift in policy under U.S. President Donald Trump, whose administration has been far friendlier to Israeli settlements in the West Bank than past U.S. leaders. Most of the international community views the settlements as illegal and an obstacle to peace with the Palestinians.

People lined up in the settlement of Efrat, where some 4,000 U.S. citizens live.

“The United States says Efrat is part of Israel, Efrat is going to be forever here,” the city’s mayor, Dovi Sheffler, said.

More than 500,000 Israelis live in settlements across the West Bank, which is home to around 3 million Palestinians living under military rule, with the Palestinian Authority exercising limited autonomy in population centers.

The U.S. Embassy has previously provided consular services in Ramallah and other Palestinian cities in the West Bank, which is home to many Palestinian Americans.

Shurafa reported from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip. AP journalist Edith Lederer at the United Nations contributed.

Yazid Al-Zayan, 9, mourns during the funeral of his father Khaled Al-Zayan, a Palestinian policeman, who was killed in an Israeli military strike, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Muslim worshippers perform Friday prayers during the holy month of Ramadan outside the destroyed Al-Albani Mosque, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Mourners pray over the body of a Palestinian policeman who was killed in an Israeli military strike, at Nasser Hospital, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Yazid Al-Zayan, 9, mourns during the funeral of his father Khaled Al-Zayan, a Palestinian policeman, who was killed in an Israeli military strike, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A youth mourns over the body of a Palestinian policeman, Khaled Al-Zayan, who was killed in an Israeli military strike, during his funeral in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Muslim worshippers perform Friday prayers during the holy month of Ramadan outside the destroyed Al-Albani Mosque, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Muslim worshippers perform Friday prayers during the holy month of Ramadan outside the destroyed Al-Albani Mosque, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Muslim worshippers take part in the Friday prayers during the holy month of Ramadan outside the destroyed Al-Albani Mosque, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Muslim worshippers perform Friday prayers during the holy month of Ramadan outside the destroyed Al-Albani Mosque, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Muslim worshippers take part in the Friday prayers during the holy month of Ramadan outside the destroyed Al-Albani Mosque, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Muslim worshippers perform Friday prayers during the holy month of Ramadan outside the destroyed Al-Albani Mosque, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Mourners carry the body of the Palestinian policeman, Khaled Al-Zayan, who was killed in an Israeli military strike, during his funeral in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)