BRITONS VOTED THEIR WAY IN, BUT LACK THE MEANS TO SHOOT THEIR WAY OUT: Starmer’s parliamentary loss only adds to free fall that appeared to start before Epstein scandals.

The latest blow to Starmer was a stunning loss Friday in a parliamentary vote in Manchester, in which his Labour Party slid to a weak third, hemorrhaging votes on both the right and left.

Starmer was already politically hobbled by the arrest this week of Peter Mandelson, the prime minister’s hand-picked ambassador to the United States. But even before that, voters were souring on Starmer, who was the first left-of-center head of government in the U.K. after nearly 15 years of conservative rule.

In a weekly national tracking poll from before Mandelson’s arrest, the Labour Party had less support than the nationalist Reform UK party, with Reform UK at 28% and Labour at 22%. The Conservative Party, which had provided the five prime ministers that preceded Starmer, was a close third, with 20% support. Labour had a comfortable lead over the two right-of-center parties as recently as December.

The next election promises to be spicy — and putting together a government with that kind of split could be spicier still.

Assuming Labour allows another election, and I’m only half-joking when I say that.