• Junior minister resigns, calling for him to set a timetable.
• Almost 80 lawmakers call for Starmer to go.
• Borrowing costs rise, sterling falls on new instability.
  

LONDON: Prime Minister Keir Starmer defied calls to resign on Tuesday, telling ministers he would “get on with governing” despite a “destabilising” 48 hours of growing calls to set out a timetable for his departure after an election drubbing.

At a meeting of his cabinet team of ministers, Starmer, in the top job for less than two years, repeated that while he took responsibility for one of his Labour Party’s worst election defeats, there had been no official move to trigger a leadership contest.

“The past 48 hours have been destabilising for government and that has a real economic cost for our country and for families,” Starmer told ministers, according to his Downing Street office.

“The country expects us to get on with governing. That is what I am doing and what we must do as a Cabinet.”

British government bonds rallied weakly on Starmer’s comments, but remained firmly in the red for the day.

His defiance was in marked contrast to the feelings of many in his Labour Party.

On Tuesday, a junior minister resigned after a handful of ministerial aides also left the government. More than 80 Labour lawmakers have publicly called for him to set a resignation date so the party could install a new leader in an orderly manner.

Starmer had sought to shore up his position on Monday when he promised to act more boldly and with more urgency to tackle Britain’s many problems.

He had said the country would never forgive the centre-left Labour Party if it embarked on a leadership challenge, just two years after its huge parliamentary majority was supposed to bring an end to the political chaos that had gripped the country since Britain voted to leave the European Union 10 years ago.

NEW YORK: A US transparency advocacy group has opened a temporary exhibition in New York with only one text on display: a print-out of all the files released by the US Department of Justice — roughly 3.5 million pages — relating to financier and convicted sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein.

The library, dubbed “The Donald J Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Reading Room,” has bound all the documents released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act in 3,437 volumes, all numbered and organised on shelves.

“The truth is hard to deny when it’s printed and bound for you to see,” reads the website for the Institute of Primary Facts, the Washington-based nonprofit behind the display.

Those interested in seeing the files at the library in Tribeca can do so by registering online.

However, due to errors by the Department of Justice in failing to redact the names of some of the victims included in the documents, the general public is not allowed to consult the files. The exhibit offers exceptions for some professionals like journalists and lawyers.

The pop-up also has a display on the longstanding relationship between President Donald Trump and Epstein, who died in federal custody in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges involving minors.

The pair were friends for decades before they reportedly fell out in 2004 over a property deal, after which Trump reportedly denounced his former ally. He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing after showing up repeatedly in the so-called “Epstein Files.”

“We’re a pro-democracy organisation, with the goal of educating the public using these kinds of sort of pop-up museums and other in-real-life experiences to help people understand the corruption in the United States, the dangers to democracy,” David Garrett, one of the creators behind the project, told AFP.

Garrett said he believes “there needs to be real public outcry” about how the Trump administration has handled the document release, with many accusing justice officials of covering up Trump’s ties to Epstein.

“And what we attempted to do here was to create, or help to create public outcry to have real accountability,” he added.

The exhibit is open to the public until May 21.

• More than 60 Labour MPs reportedly call on UK PM to step down.
• Four govt aides resign amid growing pressure on Starmer leadership.
• PM vows to “prove doubters wrong” after disastrous local election losses.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has been told by UK Interior Minister Shabana Mahmood, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, and a myriad of other senior cabinet ministers to consider setting out a timeline for his departure, The Times newspaper reported on Monday.

The statement comes as pressure continues to mount on Starmer following disastrous local and regional election results for the ruling Labour Party.

The report came as Starmer vowed to prove his doubters wrong and resist growing calls to step down after Labour suffered heavy losses in local and regional elections.

More than 60 of Labour’s 403 MPs reportedly asked him to quit, unconvinced by his pledge to make the party “bolder and better” in response to voter frustration over the pace of change.

The rebels included four government aides who resigned from their posts.

Joe Morris, who served as parliamentary private secretary to Health Secretary Wes Streeting, wrote on X that it was “now clear that the prime minister no longer has the trust or confidence of the public to lead this change”.

Another aide, Tom Rutland, who worked for Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds, said Starmer had “lost authority” among Labour MPs and “will not be able to regain it”.

Melanie Ward, an assistant to Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy, also called for a leadership change.

“Keir Starmer did important work to change the Labour Party, and governing in a time like this will never be easy,” she wrote on X.

“But the message from last week’s elections was clear; the Prime Minister has lost the confidence of the public to lead this change.”

Cabinet Office aide Naushabah Khan, who also resigned, said: “I am calling for new leadership so that we can rebuild trust and deliver the better future that the British people voted for.”

Under Labour Party rules, any challenger would need the backing of 81 MPs — 20% of the parliamentary party — to trigger a leadership contest.

Such a move, however, could open a damaging internal struggle between Labour’s left and right factions over a successor.

Starmer, 63, came to power in July 2024 after a landslide election victory ended 14 years of Conservative rule marked by austerity, Brexit infighting and criticism over the government’s Covid response.

But his premiership has been dogged by policy missteps and controversy, including fallout over the appointment and later dismissal of Peter Mandelson as UK ambassador to Washington after reports linked him to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

While Starmer has struggled to revive economic growth and ease cost-of-living pressures, he has drawn praise for resisting US President Donald Trump over Iran.

Labour’s poor showing in last week’s elections saw major gains for the hard-right Reform UK and the left-wing Greens at Labour’s expense.

The party also lost control of the devolved Welsh parliament to Plaid Cymru for the first time since its establishment in 1999 and failed to recover ground against the Scottish National Party in Scotland.

In a major speech on Monday, Starmer acknowledged public frustration with politics, the state of the country and his own leadership.

“I know I have my doubters, and I know I need to prove them wrong, and I will,” he said.

He promised “a bigger response” rather than “incremental change” on issues including economic growth, closer European ties and energy policy.

Starmer also pledged to fully nationalise British Steel and said Brexit had left Britain “poorer, weaker and less secure”.

He attacked Reform UK leader Nigel Farage as a “chancer” and “grifter” whose pro-Brexit campaign had taken Britain “for a ride”.

“If we don’t get this right our country will go down a very dark path,” he warned.

After the speech, Labour MP Catherine West, who had earlier threatened to trigger a leadership challenge, said she was instead gathering names of MPs who wanted Starmer to announce a timetable for electing a new leader in September.

Starmer vowed to fight any challenge and warned Labour would “never be forgiven” if it repeated the “chaos” of recent Conservative governments, which saw five prime ministers since 2010, including three in four months during 2022.

Health Secretary Streeting and former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner have long been seen as possible challengers, though neither commands universal support inside Labour.

Rayner, while stopping short of demanding Starmer’s resignation, said in a speech on Monday: “What we are doing isn’t working, and it needs to change.”