PM must go so party can rebuild trust, Labour MP says

Labour MP Neil Duncan-Jordan says the prime minister should resign as the fallout from the Peter Mandelson scandal continues.

It comes after Keir Starmer said he had been aware of Mandelson's ongoing friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein when he appointed him as UK's ambassador to the US.

On Thursday, Sir Keir apologised to Epstein's victims for believing Mandelson's "lies".

Duncan-Jordan, MP for Poole, said: "We can't just keep going on like this - lurching from one crisis to the next. One of the best ways of resetting is to have a renewal of the Labour Party, to restart our offer to the British public, and that means changing who's in charge."

Other Labour MPs have shown their support for the PM, including Rugby's John Slinger who said: "Calm heads need to prevail. The PM has done the right thing here."

But speaking to BBC Radio Solent, Duncan-Jordan said: "We are losing the trust and the confidence of the British people, which is very hard won and very easily given away, and we have to address that.

"The Labour party needs to change and that includes the Number 10 operation in its entirety, in my view."

He said his "preferred option" would be to see Andy Burnham become leader, adding: "The Labour leadership prevented him from having that opportunity."

York Central MP Rachael Maskell also told the BBC she believed Starmer's position was "untenable" and it was "inevitable" he would have to stand down.

Duncan-Jordan added: "I think there's many, many more people who think like this who haven't yet come out and said so.

"It's like a snowball - once it starts rolling."

Both Duncan-Jordan and Maskell were among four MPs who lost the whip last July for rebelling against welfare cuts - it was restored in November.

He added: "People have lost trust and confidence in the Number 10 project and I think, for the good of the party, we need to look at how we can rebuild the trust and confidence of the British people..."