UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government has seen another high-profile resignation. Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service Sir Chris Wormald has resigned, becoming the third senior official to leave Downing Street in less than a week.
According to the Cabinet Office, Wormald’s resignation is related to the ongoing crisis surrounding the appointment of Peter Mandelson as the UK’s ambassador to the US in 2025. Mandelson, who had long-standing ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, was dismissed as ambassador in September 2025, but new documents released by the US Department of Justice in late January 2026 have renewed criticism of the prime minister and his team for their misguided decision.
Wormald’s resignation, after less than a year in office, is another blow to Starmer’s position. The cabinet secretary is considered the country’s highest-ranking civil servant and a key figure in the government apparatus. The prime minister announced that he would appoint a new head of the civil service “soon.”
Amid a spate of resignations, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar openly called on Starmer to resign, calling the situation “unacceptable.” This marked the most vocal internal challenge to the party leader since Labour came to power in 2024. Starmer himself, at a meeting with parliamentary factions, stated that he was “not prepared to step aside” and intended to “fulfill the five-year mandate given to me by the British people” to prevent Nigel Farage’s “Reform UK populists” from coming to power.
Opinion polls show that more than half of Britons believe Starmer’s resignation is necessary amid the scandal. Opposition Leader Kemi Badenoch of the Conservative Party stated that the prime minister’s departure is “a matter of time, not probability.”