A Keir-death experience: Britain's PM clings on

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0:38Rosie Blau:We must make digital literacy tools available in our schools. We must work with mental health professionals to support children. And we must empower mentors, educators, and parents to keep kids happy. Learn more about our commitment to finding lasting solutions at empowerourfuturecoalition.com slash solutions. Paid for by the Coalition to Empower Our Future.

1:12Rosie Blau:Hello and welcome to The Intelligence from The Economist. I'm your host, Rosie Bloor. Every weekday, we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

1:28Rosie Blau:Assisted dyeing bills are gradually gaining ground in America Last week, one was passed in New York Our correspondent explains how these laws compare with their international counterparts And even if you've been watching the Winter Olympics you'll still be missing out on this extraordinary sport which is apparently becoming popular in America's Mountain West where skiing meets rodeo.

2:03Rosie Blau:First up though.

2:12Rosie Blau:Yesterday, the storm around Keir Starmer's prime ministership grew and grew. The distraction needs to end and the leadership in Downing Street has to change. Anna Sauer, the most senior Labour politician in Scotland, and apparently a long-standing friend of Starmer, called a press conference. We cannot allow the failures at the heart of Downing Street to mean the failures continue here in Scotland. The current crisis erupted over revelations in the recent release of files from Jeffrey Epstein These showed that Peter Mandelson, a Labour Lord and grandee of the party wasn't just an ongoing confidant of the convicted sex offender he actually leaked private government information That in turn has called into question the Prime Minister's judgment Yesterday the country watched to see who else would join the call for Starmer's head But as the hours passed, his ministers finally rallied around him.

3:15Aryn Braun:It certainly felt like it could be all over for Starmer yesterday as the makings of a coup seemed to be in the works. Sasha Nauter is The Economist's Britain editor. But it never quite came to fruition. Is he out of trouble now? Absolutely not. He's fighting for his political survival.

3:39Rosie Blau:Sasha, it's less than two years since Starmer got a massive majority at the election. How did we get to this point?

3:47Aryn Braun:Yes, it's extraordinary. Two years and he is the most unpopular prime minister since records began. It's really important to remember that this definitely did not start with the whole Epstein-Mandelson saga. This government doesn't have a clear mission. and Keir Starmer, for all his strengths abroad, has struggled to lead this Labour Party, quite a divided Labour Party, through a programme that actually deals with the difficult problems that Britain has. Half of the party who voted for Keir Starmer in 2024 say they would now vote for a different party. So there's a feeling of lack of direction and there's U-turn after U-turn as he's had to make concessions to the left flank of his party.

4:34Aryn Braun:And with that, he's fed the idea that rebellion pays. So it feels like a directionless government that has not been able to stand up to the challenges of this country. And this latest scandal has undermined the very thing upon which Keir Starmer was elected, which was to bring calm, to bring an end to the chaos, to bring an end to sort of Tory sleaze. And I guess for several members in the party who were already thinking about replacing Sir Keir at some point, the big question was, is this that moment? Give me just a brief recap of the Mandelson scandal. Peter Mandelson has been a senior figure in the Labour Party for many, many decades.

5:15Aryn Braun:And he'd somewhat retired, but was brought back by Keir Starmer to be the ambassador, which spectacularly misfired. It was publicly known that Mandelstam had had a friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. It wasn't clear how deep that friendship was, and it wasn't clear how long that friendship had continued. But there were suspicions that it had continued beyond Jeffrey Epstein's conviction. And with the big release of the Epstein files in America, it became painfully clear that Peter Mandelson had been leaking sensitive government information, cabinet minutes, to his billionaire paedophile friend in America.

5:58Aryn Braun:I can't quite overstate, like, there's no precedent here. It's a huge political scandal. And it comes back to Keir Starmer with, oh my goodness, what a terrible misjudgment of character. There's no suggestion that Keir Starmer knew that Mandelson was leaking this information, but it became clear at PMQ last week that Starmer did know when he appointed Mandelson that this friendship had continued and there was a big gasp in PMQ's Prime Minister's questions when he admitted that and I think that kind of has sowed the seed. Yes, Starmer seems to have survived this week but as soon as the criminal investigation into Peter Mandelson moves to the next stage, the government is expected to release these Mandelson files, which at minimum will be embarrassing for the government and for Keir Starmer, I have no doubt.

6:49Aryn Braun:But it could be significantly worse, right? So I really don't think this issue has gone to bed yet.

6:54Rosie Blau:But as you say, Sasha, it's not just about Mandelson, and this issue would not have been as big a scandal, arguably, if Starmer hadn't already been so unpopular. How deep does the rot go?

7:07Aryn Braun:If the Mandelson story had happened in isolation, we would have definitely spent a little bit of time going, gosh, this is extraordinary. Someone's been leaking this stuff. But to understand why the Epstein-Mandelson story could bring down a prime minister, you have to see the much broader, deeper rot. It's a frustration with very little visible showing of Labour delivering the sort of things they promised. They promised to stop the boats. Instead, small boats are up since Keir Starmer started. They promised to sort of slash any waiting times again. Progress there is very, very slow. So I think you're right, this Prime Minister and this government have been struggling for far, far longer.

7:50Aryn Braun:And the Epstein thing is just the latest, very big admittedly, but the latest thing that can sort of tip things over the edge. So what happens next? Well, what happens next is I'm sure Keir Starmer wakes up with a big headache this morning because, you know, it was a late night last night. The speech he gave last night, I think, already gave us an indication of how he plans to proceed. He was very conciliatory to the Labour Party. He apologised for not listening to them enough. He promised to be more inclusive going forward. All of those are signals to me that he plans to give the party more of what they want.

8:27Aryn Braun:In my team, we call it ice cream for breakfast. You sort of move to just giving the party what it wants. Oh, welfare reform. Oh, there's a protest. People don't want that. Let's stop doing that. Oh, winter fuel. Oh, let's take a U-turn. And from the look of it, having really had to beg his cabinet to support him, he's not in a strong position to do any of the difficult things that Britain needs.

8:48Rosie Blau:So there's going to be a challenge at some point, probably a number of them.

8:52Aryn Braun:Who are the contenders to replace Keir Starmer? There's Angela Rayner, the former deputy prime minister, but she was very damaged by a recent tax scandal and is still being investigated. But she is very popular with the party. And then there's Wes Streeting, who's sort of a Blair Eye. He's very ambitious, but he is damaged by his association with Mandelson. And he's not particularly liked by the party. Then there's Andy Burnham, but he's been blocked for running. He's very popular, but he doesn't currently have a route to prime ministership. And then one name that we're increasingly hearing is Ed Miliband, currently the energy minister.

9:26Aryn Braun:Very different characters, unclear what any of these people would do, and none of them perfect. And I think that's one of the issues here is that everyone can see the flaws of Keir Starmer and everyone can see that he's not in a great position to take the party to the next election. But all of the other candidates have asterisks behind their names. and nobody's a slam dunk and it doesn't look like there's a consensus candidate at all.

9:49Rosie Blau:So Sasha, what's the verdict? Is Starmer toast?

9:53Aryn Braun:Well, he's not toast this week, but it's very hard to see how he survives for another three years. It can't be that long before we have more drama, I think, in the Labour Party. With or without Keir Starmer running the show, British politics, I think, is going to get worse before it gets better. And the big problems that this country's have will not be the priority of the Labour government for the coming period, I'm afraid. Sasha, thank you very much. Thanks, Rosie.

10:33Rosie Blau:This episode is brought to you by Capital One. Capital One's tech team isn't just talking about multi-agentic AI. They already deployed one. It's called Chat Concierge and it's simplifying car shopping. Using self-reflection and layered reasoning with live API checks, it doesn't just help buyers find a car they love. It helps schedule a test drive, get pre-approved for financing, and estimate trade in value. Advanced, intuitive, and deployed. That's how they stack. That's technology at Capital One. Youth mental health is a complex challenge that requires comprehensive solutions. We must strengthen after-school programs.

11:11Rosie Blau:We must make digital literacy tools available in our schools. We must work with mental health professionals to support children. And we must empower mentors, educators, and parents to keep kids happy. Learn more about our commitment to finding lasting solutions at empowerourfuturecoalition.com slash solutions. Paid for by the Coalition to Empower Our Future.

11:37Rosie Blau:For her 70th birthday, she didn't want to party. She wanted us to buy an abandoned funeral home. That's mom. And bring it back to life.

11:46Sacha Nauta:Kathy Hochul, the governor of New York, says she knows the pain of seeing someone she loves suffer and feeling powerless to stop it.

11:54Rosie Blau:Stevie Hertz is our U.S. policy correspondent. My mom didn't get a chance to see me become a member of Congress.

12:03Aryn Braun:but past two months before I was nominated to be lieutenant governor.

12:07Sacha Nauta:Hochul's mother, Patricia Ann Courtney, died of ALS, a motor neurone disease, at age 76.

12:12Rosie Blau:Fighting a debilitating illness, ALS, that robbed this woman who dedicated her life to being an advocate for victims of domestic violence, families in stress, she became a great social worker. That's the kind of mom that I lost to a disease that robbed her of everything, including her own voice.

12:29Sacha Nauta:Neurological diseases like ALS are the second most common diagnosis for Americans who ask for a doctor's help to die. Hochul signed a law last week making New York the 13th state, plus Washington, D.C., where assisted dying is legal.

12:43Rosie Blau:And if a New Yorker chooses to have that under the circumstances we've pre-designated, then who am I to stand in their way? That is where I am at today with this decision.

12:55Sacha Nauta:This makes New York part of a wave. In 2025, Delaware and Illinois approved assisted dying laws. So by the end of the year, more than 30 % of Americans will live in states where doctors can prescribe fatal medications to terminally ill patients.

13:12Rosie Blau:Stevie, where does the American public stand on assisted dying?

13:16Sacha Nauta:So slightly more than half of the public believe that assisted suicide is morally acceptable. And that share grows to two-thirds if the patient is in severe pain, has no chance of recovery and is asking for help. So this is really a case of law and lawmakers finally catching up with public opinion.

13:33Rosie Blau:We've discussed assisted dying bills in other countries on the show a number of times in the UK, in Canada, Australia and elsewhere. How does America's approach differ?

13:45Sacha Nauta:The safeguards in the US are much stricter than in other Western countries where assisted dying is legal. So Canada and the Netherlands allow it in cases where patients are suffering from incurable illnesses, but are not actually terminally ill. But American states follow the model of Oregon, which became the first state to legalize assisted dying back in 1994. And it's really striking how little has changed since then. It requires patients to have six months or less to live. That diagnosis has to be confirmed by two doctors. Patients have to be mentally competent. They have to request the medication and then be able to take it themselves.

14:19Sacha Nauta:It can't be administered by a doctor. So typically it's a drink that they have to drink themselves. Because of this, relatively few people are eligible. It's patients generally with ALS, like Kathy Hochul's mother, or more often terminal cancer. And since some hospitals and doctors refuse to help for moral grounds, or they would just prefer not to, assisted suicide remains relatively rare. In states where it is legal, it accounts for less than 1 % of deaths. Compare that to Canada or the Netherlands, where the rate is about five times that.

14:49Rosie Blau:And you said that New York has just passed this bill. Is it the same model?

14:54Sacha Nauta:New York has added yet more guardrails. The patient's mental fitness has to be confirmed by a psychologist or a psychiatrist. Only one other state so far requires that. The patient's request to die even has to be filmed as well as being witnessed by two people. And those two people cannot be involved in the patient's care or set to benefit from their estate. These extra elements were added during negotiations between legislators and Kathy Hochul. She's a practicing Catholic and she wanted New York to have the toughest safeguards in the country. The bill was signed last Friday and it will take effect in six months.