UK leader Starmer averts a leadership challenge for now but remains damaged by Epstein fallout

LONDON (AP) — Keir Starmer fights another day.

After indirect fallout from the Jeffrey Epstein files sparked a dramatic day of crisis that threatened to topple him, the U.K. prime minister was saved by a pugnacious fightback and hesitation among his rivals inside the governing Labour Party about the consequences of a leadership coup.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said Tuesday that Labour lawmakers had “looked over the precipice … and they didn’t like what they saw.”

“And they thought the right thing was to unite behind Keir,” Miliband told the BBC.

He might have added: For now.

Starmer’s authority over his center-left party has been battered by aftershocks from the publication of files related to Epstein — a man he never met and whose sexual misconduct hasn't implicated him.

But it was Starmer's decision to appoint veteran Labour politician Peter Mandelson, a friend of Epstein, as U.K. ambassador to Washington in 2024 that has led many to question the leader's judgment and call for his resignation.

Starmer has apologized, saying Mandelson had lied about the extent of his ties to the convicted sex offender. And he vowed to fight for his job.

“I will never walk away from the mandate I was given to change this country,” Starmer said Tuesday as he visited a community center in southern England. “I will never walk away from the people that I’m charged with fighting for and I will never walk away from the country that I love.”

Starmer’s risky decision to appoint Mandelson — who brought extensive contacts and trade expertise but a history of questionable ethical judgment — backfired when emails were published in September showing that Mandelson had maintained a friendship with Epstein after the financier’s 2008 conviction for sex offenses involving a minor.

Starmer fired Mandelson, but a new trove of Epstein files released last month by the U.S. government contained more revelations. Mandelson is now facing a police investigation for potential misconduct in public office over documents suggesting that he passed sensitive government information to Epstein. He's not accused of any sexual offenses.

The Mandelson scandal may be the final straw that finishes Starmer’s premiership. But it follows discontent that has built since he led Labour to a landslide election victory 19 months ago.

Some of Starmer’s problems stem from a turbulent world and a gloomy economic backdrop. He has won praise for rallying international support for Ukraine and persuading U.S. President Donald Trump to sign a trade deal easing tariffs on U.K. goods. But at home, he has struggled to bring down inflation, boost economic growth and ease the cost of living.

Despite a huge parliamentary majority that should allow the government to implement its plans with ease, Starmer has been forced to make multiple U-turns on contentious policies including welfare cuts and mandatory digital ID cards.

Starmer has been through two chiefs of staff, four directors of communications and multiple lower-level staff changes in Downing Street. The prime minister’s powerful chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, resigned Sunday over the decision to appoint Mandelson. Communications director Tim Allan left the next day.

Allan's predecessor, Matthew Doyle, has since been appointed by Starmer to the House of Lords, but said Tuesday he would not be sitting as a Labour member over his association with Sean Morton, a former Labour councilor who was convicted in 2017 of possessing indecent images of children. Doyle condemned Morton's crimes and apologized for campaigning for him in an election before his conviction, saying that was “a clear error of judgment for which I apologize unreservedly.” He said he had believed Morton's claim of innocence at the time.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar held a news conference on Monday and called for Starmer to resign. If other senior party figures had followed, the pressure would have been impossible for Starmer to resist.

But none did. Instead, Starmer’s Cabinet and parliamentary colleagues posted apparently choreographed messages of support. They included former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and Health Secretary Wes Streeting, considered the two most likely challengers for the top job.

Then, came a highly charged meeting with Labour members of Parliament, where Starmer impressed many with his sense of resolve. Lawmakers in the room said that the mood, initially skeptical, became supportive.

“It was clear he was up for the fight,” said Chris Curtis, one of more than 200 Labour lawmakers elected in the 2024 Starmer landslide.

Starmer appears to have more political lives than Larry the cat, who has outlasted five prime ministers during 15 years as “chief mouser” in Downing Street.

But his respite is likely to be temporary. Many Labour lawmakers remain worried about their reelection chances if the party’s dire opinion poll ratings don’t improve.

Some female party members feel particularly disappointed by Mandelson’s appointment. The Labour leader of Wales, First Minister Eluned Morgan, called revelations about Mandelson “deeply troubling, not least because, once again, the voices of women and girls were ignored.

“That failure must be acknowledged and confronted honestly,” she said, while offering support for Starmer.

Labour faces potential electoral setbacks at a Feb. 26 special election in what was once a party stronghold in northwest England, and in May’s elections for legislatures in Scotland and Wales and local councils in England.

And rivals are still plotting. The Guardian reported that an “Angela for leader” website backing Rayner briefly went live last month by accident. Streeting, whose genial relationship with Mandelson is now a weakness, released messages he’d exchanged with Mandelson before and after the ambassadorial appointment, seemingly in an attempt to show the men weren't close friends.

The exchanges include implicit criticism of Starmer, with Streeting writing that the government had “No growth strategy at all.”

Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London, said that Starmer had “bought himself some time” and challengers were “keeping their powder dry” for the moment.

“It’s very difficult to imagine after the shellacking that the party will presumably face in May, him continuing to lead the party much beyond this summer,” Bale said.

Though in British politics, nothing is impossible.

“There are problems with the other candidates," Bale said. “It’s never an ideal situation for any party to be choosing a prime minister in midterm, and it may be that the Labour Party decides, better the devil you know. I suspect that Keir Starmer will go, but who knows?”

Ed Miliband, Britain's Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero leaves 10 Downing Street after a cabinet meeting in London, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026.(AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

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

British Ambassador to the United States, Peter Mandelson speaks during the rededication ceremony of the George Washington Statue in the National Gallery in London, Wednesday, June 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

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 visits a community centre in Welwyn Garden City, England, Tuesday Feb. 10, 2026. (Suzanne Plunkett/Pool Photo via AP)

Thousands of Catholic devotees commemorated Good Friday across Latin America with processions and ceremonies re-enacting the crucifixion of Jesus.

In Antigua, a colonial-era city in southern Guatemala, dozens dressed in purple and white robes and made their way under the early morning sun, many of them penitents known as “cucuruchos.” Others carried centuries-old images of Jesus through cobblestone streets.

The city hosts more than a dozen processions throughout Holy Week, set against a backdrop of volcanoes.

Marcos Bautista, 63, said he has attended the Good Friday observances since his father brought him along as a baby in his arms.

“To describe Holy Week in Antigua, there are no words that can capture what it feels like," Bautista said. “It’s a feeling that, just by speaking about what Jesus has done in our lives, moves me deeply.”

In Bolivia, President Rodrigo Paz traveled to the southern city of Tarija to participate in Good Friday ceremonies.

The country is a secular state under its constitution and its leaders refrained from engaging in any religious events between 2006 and 2025. But Paz — who took office last November — broke with precedent by attending Palm Sunday Mass carrying a palm frond.

In the capital city of La Paz, local authorities and military bands accompanied Good Friday processions, in which hooded penitents carried the Holy Sepulcher through the streets.

Antonio Santamaría, who was holding an image of Jesus, said he welcomed the government’s presence. “I’m glad everyone is here now,” Santamaría said.

Bolivia remains a predominantly Catholic country, alongside strong Indigenous spiritual traditions. In some households, it is customary to eat only fish on Good Friday and prepare up to 12 dishes representing the apostles of Jesus, a tradition that has declined in recent years amid an economic crisis.

In Ecuador, where about 80% of the population identifies as Catholic, processions were held across major cities. In the capital, Quito, the “Jesús del Gran Poder” procession drew more than 150,000 faithful who filled the historic center’s streets with chants and prayers as they accompanied an image of Jesus carrying the cross.

Thousands more climbed the Monserrate Hill in neighboring Colombia. At more than 10,200 feet (3,100 meters) above sea level, they reached the summit in the capital city of Bogotá to attend Mass at the basilica. Similar observances, including reenactments of the Stations of the Cross, were held in other parts of the country.

Mexicans, too, celebrated Good Friday in a country that’s home to nearly 100 million Catholics.

Masked penitents, in chains and with pieces of cactus stuck to their skin, walked through the town of Atlixco, in the central state of Puebla. Known as the “Procession of the Chained," it’s part of a tradition in which some participants pay penance for their sins and others thank God for miracles.

“It’s very beautiful, very sad,” said Marcela Ramírez, a homemaker who attended the procession. “It’s a kind of reverence, and you have to come and accompany them.”

While the share of Catholics in Latin America has declined over the past decade, the faith remains the region’s largest religion.

In several countries, including Peru and Argentina, more than 60% of adults still identify as Catholic, according to 2024 surveys by the Pew Research Center and Latinobarómetro.

AP journalists Moisés Castillo in Antigua, Guatemala; Carlos Valdez and Juan Karita in La Paz, Bolivia; Gonzalo Solano and Gabriela Molina, in Quito, Ecuador; and Martín Silva in Atlixco, Mexico, contributed to this report.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

A penitents known as a "Veronica" takes part in the Jesus del Gran Poder procession in Quito, Ecuador, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa).

Hooded penitents known as "Cucuruchos" take part in the Jesus del Gran Poder procession in Quito, Ecuador, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa).

A blindfolded penitent wears a crown of thorns before a Good Friday procession during Holy Week celebrations in Atlixco, Mexico, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

Chains drape over the Santa Muerte tattoo of a penitent before a Good Friday procession during Holy Week in Atlixco, Mexico, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

A penitent wearing chains and prickly cactus holds a photo on a cross at a Good Friday procession during Holy Week in Atlixco, Mexico, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

Penitents from the Nazareno brotherhood carry a statue of Jesus down the steps of the Cathedral Basilica of St. James the Apostle for a Good Friday procession during Holy Week in Tunja, Colombia, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)

A hooded penitent from the Nazareno brotherhood waits for the Good Friday procession inside the Cathedral Basilica of St. James the Apostle during Holy Week in Tunja, Colombia, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)

Young women and girls carry jeweled hearts representing the Virgin Mary at a Good Friday procession during Holy Week in La Paz, Bolivia, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

Hooded penitents participate in a Good Friday procession during Holy Week in La Paz, Bolivia, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

A statue of Jesus Christ with a cross makes its way past electric cables at La Merced church's Good Friday procession during Holy Week in Antigua, Guatemala, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

Women carry children dressed as penitents knows as "cucuruchos" on the sidelines of La Merced church's Good Friday procession during Holy Week in Antigua, Guatemala, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

Penitents carry statues of Jesus Christ representing the Stations of the Cross at a Good Friday procession by La Merced church during Holy Week in Antigua, Guatemala, just before sunrise Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

Musicians dressed as Roman soldiers take part in La Merced church's Good Friday procession during Holy Week in Antigua, Guatemala, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)