British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is threatened by growing scandals. His deputy prime minister was already forced out after failing to pay her taxes. Top adviser Morgan McSweeney might be the next to fall.

McSweeney set up the “Labour Together” campaign group that helped unseat Jeremy Corbyn as Labour Party leader and get Starmer into power. Now it turns out he covered up donations to Labour Together. McSweeney claimed he asked the Electoral Commission if he needed to declare the donations and was told “no.” The commission has provided evidence to the contrary.

It looks like he’ll have to resign soon.

McSweeney may only be an adviser, but losing him will be a crisis for Starmer. Dan Hodges called him “the most powerful figure within the government—including Keir Starmer. As one minister told me: ‘People call him the real deputy prime minister. They’re wrong. He’s the real prime minister.’”

The vultures are circling. Nigel Farage’s Reform party is the most popular with voters, but it has no quick route to power. It would require another general election, which Starmer is not obliged to hold until August 2029.

But if Labour gets a new leader, Britain gets a new prime minister. Over the last few days, Manchester Mayor Andrew Burnham has made clear his desire to challenge Starmer. Burnham comes from the left wing of the party and wants wealth taxes, mansion taxes and more spending.

Starmer’s allies warn that Burnham would quickly trigger a bond market collapse, as investors pull their soon-to-be-taxed funds from the British government. They’re probably right.

Burnham would have to resign as mayor and run for Parliament to challenge Starmer, so it’s not an imminent prospect. But the fact that it’s making front-page news shows the dire situation Starmer’s government is in. Britain is bringing many curses on itself, as we describe in our September Trumpet issue.