Embarrassing audio containing comments made by the UK’s ambassador to the US about “stubborn” Sir Keir Starmer has been leaked today.
Speaking to students, Sir Christian Turner, who has been the UK’s chief diplomat to the US since February 2026, called the Prime Minister “a stubborn guy”.
In comments the Foreign Office have now described as “private” and “informal”, the new ambassador, said Sir Keir’s future looked “touch and go” and alluded that if the Labour Party do not perform well in next week’s local elections, it was likely the Prime Minister could be removed.
The UK’s ambassador to the US can be heard saying: “If Labour does very badly… I suspect the party will be able to go over that threshold and remove him.
“That seems to me to be the conventional thinking.”
He acknowledged how, due to Labour rules, it is more difficult to remove a sitting Prime Minister than it was for the Conservatives, but believed if next week’s local elections go badly for Sir Keir, the party would gain the 80 MPs required to sign a letter requesting his removal.
The now leaked audio was from a talk Sir Christian had with sixth form students from the UK who had travelled to the US in February, the Financial Times reports.
He was appointed as the UK’s ambassador to the US in February, following the sacking of Lord Peter Mandelson in September 2025.
Sir Christian also can be heard expressing reservations about the term “special relationship” when describing UK-US ties, calling it as “quite nostalgic, quite backwards-looking” with “a lot of baggage about it”.
King Charles III and Sir Christian Turner at a garden party today as part of the monarch’s state visit to the US
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He suggested the label more accurately applies to America’s bond with Israel, saying: “I think there is probably one country that has a special relationship with the United States and that is probably Israel.”
The UK’s chief diplomat made the remarks prior to the US-Israeli joint operation against Iran, which kick-started the current conflict in the Middle East.
He continued to describe the US-UK relationship as “so strong”, adding: “There is a deep history and affinity between us.
“Particularly on defence and security, we are intertwined.”
The leaked audio’s publication coincides King Charles’s state visit to the US
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He continued: “The relationship will carry on, if you want, being ‘special’, but I think it’s going to have to be different.”
The new ambassador also passed comment about Jeffrey Epstein, with whom his predecessor, Lord Mandelson, was infamously tied and subsequently lost his position due to their relationship.
He described how, while the scandal had “brought down a senior member of the Royal Family, a British ambassador to Washington [and] potentially the Prime Minister”, it “really hasn’t touched anybody” in the US.
It posed as an “interesting question” about the “different levels of accountability in our systems”, he added.
He called for US legislators to “bring to account some of those senior figures” who were connected to the now-dead, paedophile financier, as well as suggesting Lord Mandelson and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor give evidence in Congress over their relationships with Epstein.
Sir Christian also mentioned how the Lord Mandelson appointment was a “crisis” that “has nearly brought down the Government and ended the Prime Minister’s tenure”.
He said that “at one stage he was pretty clearly on the ropes” and his future looked “quite touch and go”.
The UK’s chief diplomat continued: “If they do OK, [Sir Keir] might carry on going … That’s just for me as a citizen speculating because I have to serve whomever is there.”
On the appointment of Lord Mandelson, Sir Christian said “the vetting thing’s a bit of a red herring”.
He said: “The problem was he had a bunch of associations that were embarrassing to him and the Government that had not been revealed.
“And, arguably, once they were uncovered, the Prime Minister moved to sack him.”
This comes as Morgan McSweeney, Sir Keir’s former chief of staff, sat before the Foreign Affairs Select Committee today, where he admitted Lord Mandelson’s ambassadorial appointment was a “serious error of judgement”.
His remarks were made public ahead of the King’s speech to Congress as part of his four-day royal visit to the US with Queen.
In response to Sir Christian’s remarks, a Foreign Office spokesman said: “These were private, informal comments made to a group of UK sixth-form students visiting the US in early February.
“They are certainly not any reflection of the UK Government’s position.”