He’s been a disaster, but I still believe he’s a decent man. And this is how Starmer’s time in No 10 will end, most likely within days… by DAN HODGES

I think it will end this way. Sometime over the weekend, Keir Starmer will temporarily escape the firestorm that has engulfed him and his premiership. He will take off his tie, pour himself a large glass of wine, step back, and come to unwelcome but inevitable conclusions.

The first will be that his position will no longer be politically correctable. Yesterday, he attempted to ‘explain’ his bombshell confession in the House of Commons that he was actually aware that Peter Mandelson was continuing his relationship with pedophile Jeffrey Epstein after he was jailed and when he appointed himself ambassador to Washington. And this attempt ended in complete disaster.

Shockingly, Starmer claimed that Mandelson successfully deceived him by convincing him that he ‘barely knew’ Epstein. Although their friendship was widely known in Westminster, it was widely reported in the media and detailed specifically in a review document compiled by civil servants and forwarded to Starmer at the time of his appointment.

By then, with wine in hand, the Prime Minister will probably be aware of further revelations published in the weekend newspapers about Epstein, Mandelson and, more importantly, their links to a hostile foreign state. The comments will deal a fresh blow to Sir Keir’s claim that he had no objective information that would have led to him revoking Mandelson’s appointment.

And he will surely be aware that his attempt to prevent the publication of material about Mandelson’s appointment on ridiculously bogus national security grounds has failed. And information will soon be released revealing the full extent of Mandelson’s role at the heart of his government.

As one minister told me: ‘People don’t understand. Peter was not just Keir’s messenger. with Morgan [McSweeney, his chief of staff] he was basically running the entire operation. In the last change, Peter made certain appointments. And he took a direct part in choosing the first cabinet.’

The Prime Minister will certainly be aware of new information emerging about Epstein, Mandelson and, importantly, their connections to a hostile foreign state.

Starmer’s thoughts will then turn away from his personal position and turn towards his party and the country in general. As I initially wrote shortly after he was elected Labor leader, Sir Keir is not, and never has been, a political creature. Someone who worked closely with him on the leadership campaign told me that Starmer once told them: ‘I don’t really like politics. I don’t understand you. And I’m not that good at it.’

The Prime Minister has never been one of those MPs who insist their mothers are pushing them in a stroller full of Labor leaflets. Movement was never in his DNA. When he made a terrible, rude joke at PMQs recently, one of his colleagues texted me to observe: ‘Nobody who really understands the Labor Party would say that.’

But Starmer is still aware of his debt to the party that carried him to Downing Street on its shoulders and to the party that trusted him with its votes 18 months ago.

When I wrote a few weeks ago that his blocking of Andy Burnham showed that he intended to ‘do Biden’ and block the premiership even if it meant dragging his party into ruin, an ally called me and said, ‘You’re wrong.’ ‘When the time comes, Keir will know he has to walk away’.

Keir Starmer knows now is the time. Angela Rayner told her friends she was moving. Wes Streeting is on the verge of resigning as he weighs whether to avert a scandal that could consume him, given his friendship with Mandelson. Burnham was said to be considering kicking down Westminster’s door to get into the safe seat of Bootle.

So while it may take a short time for the pretenders to rally their supporters and unsheathe their swords, Starmer knows they are about to take action. And when they do, there will be no one to stand in their way.

Information will soon be published detailing the full extent of Mandelson’s involvement at the heart of Starmer’s government.

Sir Keir knows it’s time – Angela Rayner tells friends she’s moving

Over the past 48 hours, MPs have decisively turned their backs on him. Meanwhile, his Cabinet colleagues disowned him. Apart from hapless housing minister Steve Reed, no one came to his defense after Wednesday’s disastrous PMQ performance.

But I believe a voice above all others will persuade Keir Starmer to do the right thing. Own.

In the past months of torture and disaster, no one criticized our Prime Minister more than me.

But I sincerely believe Keir Starmer is a good man. And shame will trump ambition when one looks back at the bizarre spectacle of this week’s attempt to legitimize and legitimize his appointment of Mandelson, and by extension Mandelson’s toxic relationship with one of the world’s most notorious pedophiles.

After his disastrous performance at yesterday’s press conference, I would not be surprised if the Prime Minister announces his resignation in the next few days.

But if it stumbles forward, the initiative will reach its conclusion on February 26, when Labor loses the Gorton and Denton by-elections. At that moment Keir Starmer will surely realize that he has led his party to damnation and opened the door to a Reform government with Nigel Farage. And at that moment he will step aside.

Wes Streeting stands on the brink of resignation, weighing up whether he can avert a scandal that could consume him, given his friendship with Mandelson.

I may be wrong in my assessment of the Prime Minister’s character. Long, lonely nights in Downing Street may have robbed him of the last vestiges of dignity and self-respect.

In this case, he will have to be dragged kicking and screaming from the building by his colleagues.

But I truly believe it won’t come to this. The Mandelson scandal will represent an ignominious and miserable end to his premiership. However, if he chooses to leave in a manner and on a schedule of his own choosing, he will ultimately be seen to end things honorably.

And I think he’ll want this to be his tombstone. This man, who came to power with an arrogant (if often self-indulgent) ambition to restore public confidence in politics, has clearly failed in his duty. But as a wise man once observed, all political careers end in failure. And there’s no insult in that.

Yet Starmer will be humiliated if he tries to hold on to office when it is clear that he has completely lost the trust of his colleagues and voters.

Keir Starmer has been a disastrous Prime Minister. But he has the opportunity to show that he is ready to put his country first in the final showdown.

I expect him to catch on at some point in the coming days.