British Prime Minister Suffers Major By-Election Defeat as Epstein Scandal Casts Pall

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said his party had reported several cases of ‘family voting.’

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer meets local party members, in London, on Feb. 27, 2026. Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP

The ruling Labour Party in the UK was beaten into third place on Feb. 26 in a by-election in a former stronghold in Manchester in the north of England, piling more pressure on British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Starmer—who has faced calls to resign recently after revelations in the Epstein files about the former British ambassador to the United States, Peter Mandelson—told the BBC that Thursday’s defeat in the Gorton and Denton by-election was a “very disappointing result.”