British Prime Minister Keir Starmer remains under intense pressure from within his Labour party ranks as he seeks to steady the ship amid widespread anger over the Peter Mandelson controversy.
Leadership speculation intensified as Mr Starmer gave a speech apologising to Jeffrey Epstein's victims for believing Mr Mandelson's "lies" about his relationship with the paedophile financier.
Backbenchers have called for either his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney to be sacked or for Mr Starmer himself to step down after bombshell revelations about Mr Mandelson's dealings with the late child sex offender.
In a speech, Mr Starmer insisted that "none of us knew the depth of the darkness" of Mr Mandelson's relationship with Epstein when he was appointed ambassador to the US last year.
Police are investigating allegations that Mr Mandelson, who has stepped down from the House of Lords, passed on market-sensitive information to Epstein when he was business secretary following the 2008 financial crisis.
Other documents released by the US Department of Justice also laid bare the apparent extent of the pair's relationship, with messages appearing to show Mr Mandelson celebrate Epstein's release from jail as "Liberation day".
Amid growing uncertainty about his political future, Mr Starmer said he shared the "anger and frustration" of colleagues about the saga but vowed to continue as prime minister.
However, Labour grandee Harriet Harman said it looked "weak and naive and gullible" for Mr Starmer to say "he lied to me" and warned the scandal would "finish him off" unless he took the right course of action.
"He should be reflecting on why he made that appointment," she told Sky News' Electoral Dysfunction podcast.
"He should also be thinking about a real reset in No 10, because what you need from your team in No 10 is people who share your values and your principles and who will help you be the best prime minister you can be according to your true self.
"And clearly that is not what happened because the Keir Starmer who was DPP (director of public prosecutions), would never have appointed somebody like Peter Mandelson to represent the country."
A handful of Labour MPs, including John McDonnell and Barry Gardiner, have publicly suggested Mr Starmer should consider his position, though others have expressed doubts about the prospect of upheaval without an obvious challenger.
The Daily Mail reported that Mr Starmer's former deputy, Angela Rayner, who left government after underpaying stamp duty on a new property, had told friends she was "ready" to launch a leadership campaign.
A spokesperson for Ms Rayner said: "We don't recognise these claims."
Many Labour MPs have privately expressed a lack of confidence in Mr Starmer's team and pointed to his right-hand man Mr McSweeney, whom they blame for Mr Mandelson's appointment last year.
There was also anger about Downing Street's attempt to control the release of potentially explosive documents providing insight into how the decision was made.
The government backed down and ceded control to parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee to decide what could be released into the public domain in the face of a Labour mutiny.
The release could be delayed because the Metropolitan Police has asked the government not to publish documents that would "undermine" its probe.
Mr Starmer retains "full confidence" in his chief of staff, his official spokesman told reporters.
