Keir Starmer out, Shabana Mahmood in? How Epstein files could lead to UK’s first Muslim PM

Starmer is not accused of misconduct, and Mandelson has consistently denied any impropriety. Yet British politics does not operate solely on legal thresholds. It operates on perception, timing and instinct. The renewed attention on Epstein has revived a broader unease about elite networks, proximity to power and the sense that some figures are insulated from consequences. In that climate, Mandelson’s return has become a liability rather than an asset, raising uncomfortable questions not about guilt, but about judgement.