Starmer resigns today: the 5 fatal dossiers for the British Prime Minister

I 5 dossier

– Benefit cuts and tax increases. Starmer, who has pledged to reduce the budgetary burden of social care, cut some benefits from the start, starting with the heating allowance for 10 million pensioners. Numerous protests followed, particularly from the Labor left, leading Starmer to reinstate some of those benefits in May 2025. Another unpopular measure was the decision by Finance Minister Rachel Reeves in her first budget to increase some taxes, including national insurance. And this despite the Labor Party having promised not to raise taxes.

– Mandelson affair. Then there was the case of Peter Mandelson, appointed ambassador to Washington by Starmer in December 2025. In September 2025, due to his links to the American pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein, Starmer fired Mandelson, but the poisoning continued. Faced with this scandal, Mandelson was placed under judicial investigation and Starmer’s chief of staff resigned in February. Olly Robbins, the most senior Foreign Office official, also resigned in April. Starmer defended himself by arguing that Mandelson lied about his links to Epstein and that he had not been informed that the Foreign Office had granted him security clearance despite the unfavorable opinion of the service concerned.

– Rise of Reform Uk. Since the spring of 2025, Nigel Farage’s anti-immigration Reform UK party, which continues to denounce the government’s inability to reduce migrant arrivals across the Channel, has risen in national polls, reaching the top. Although the Starmer government has tightened asylum policy and conditions for permanent residency, immigrant arrivals will still exceed 41,000 in 2025, close to the record of 45,774 recorded in 2022, according to the Home Office. In the first half of 2026, however, a decline was recorded. In the local elections on 7 May, Reform UK emerged victorious with almost 1,500 seats won and almost as many lost for Labor. Growing calls for Starmer to resign followed within the party, with Health Minister Wes Streeting giving up the post to try to rise to the leadership.

– “Incapable” in Defense. The Starmer government has continued to highlight the growing Russian threat and advocate for increased defense spending, but to date has not yet published its defense investment plan, initially scheduled for the end of 2025. Dissatisfied with the budget decisions, Secretary of State for Defense John Healey announced his resignation on 11 June, followed by his Secretary of State for the Armed Forces Al Carns. ”You have been unable, and the Treasury has refused, to mobilize the resources the nation needs to defend the country at this time of growing threats,” Healey wrote in his resignation letter, further weakening Starmer.

– Argument with Trump. At the beginning of Donald Trump’s second term in the White House, Starmer appeared to benefit from a special relationship with the American president, obtaining customs duties limited to 10%. But their relations deteriorated with the outbreak of the Israeli-American war against Iran on February 28. Faced with the reservations expressed by Starmer and his initial refusal to allow American forces to use British military bases, Donald Trump attacked him harshly. ”We are not dealing with Winston Churchill,” he had blurted out in early March, before forcing the British government to suspend the validation of a long-negotiated agreement that provided for the return of the Chagos Islands, home to the Anglo-American base of Diego Garcia, to Mauritius. Latest humiliation: Donald Trump announced Starmer’s resignation yesterday on his Truth Social, who only confirmed it today.