Voters say Starmer should resign over Mandelson affair
Sir Keir Starmer should resign over his handling of the Peter Mandelson scandal as his apology failed to deal with allegations of sleaze within the Labour Party, the majority of voters believe.
The latest Morning Wire/Freshwater Strategy poll of UK voters has found that over half of Brits (59 per cent) believe Starmer should have quit over his appointment of Mandelson as US ambassador, the most significant diplomatic posting for a UK official.
Around a third of voters (34 per cent) said Starmer should not resign over the affair. Seven in 10 Labour voters polled said the Prime Minister should remain despite the revelations.
The results reflect voters’ angst with Starmer’s judgment on key decisions, with news around Mandelson and the Epstein files leading to the resignation of his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney.
Lord Mandelson was arrested last week on suspicion of misconduct in a public office after released Jeffrey Epstein files appeared to show the former Labour cabinet minister leaking details to the paedophile financier at the height of the financial crisis.
Mandelson was released on bail shortly after the arrest. It was revealed that Lindsay Hoyle, the speaker of the House of Commons, had informed the Metropolitan Police that Mandelson was planning to travel to the British Virgin Islands.
The police subsequently apologised to Hoyle for “inadvertently revealing” he was the source of information relating to the arrest, with Mandelson’s lawyers stating the suggestion was “baseless”.
Voters aware Starmer apologised
When new details emerged relating to the close relationship between Epstein and Mandelson, Starmer apologised and accused the former US ambassador of lying in his vetting processes.
Polling by Morning Wire/Freshwater Strategy showed that the vast majority of voters (74 per cent) were aware of Starmer’s apology though a majority (52 per cent) said they were dissatisfied with the response. Around 23 per cent said they were satisfied with it.
Research also pointed to a deeper issue with voters’ views of Labour as 65 per cent of respondents agreed that the party had a “sleaze and corruption problem”.
One in three voters (34 per cent) strongly agreed with the statement while a similar percentage of Labour supporters (35 per cent) also agreed with the statement.
Around 14 per cent of voters disagreed with the statement.
Research also uncovered damning figures when voters were asked to compare the current government to the previous Conservative administration.
Over a third of voters (34 per cent) said the current government was worse while one quarter of Britons said it was better. Some 38 per cent of people said it was “about the same”.
Method note: Freshwater Strategy interviewed n=1,221 eligible voters in the UK, aged 18+ online, between 27 February – 1 March 2026. Margin of Error +/- 2.8%. Data are weighted to be representative of UK voters. Freshwater Strategy are members of the British Polling Council and abide by their rules.