British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was elected last July promising a "quieter” politics after years of chaos and scandal under the Conservatives. Losing two senior members of the U.K. government to scandal in less than a week sees the premier facing a charge he could never have imagined: that his Labour administration is no less noisy than the Tories.

That’s the perilous domestic subtext as President Donald Trump flies in to Britain for an historic second state visit on Tuesday. The timing of the three-day trip could barely be more awkward for Starmer coming just days after he sacked his ambassador to Washington, Peter Mandelson, following a Bloomberg News investigation which revealed his relationship with pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein lasted longer than previously known. The prospect of a joint news briefing in which Trump and Starmer are repeatedly asked about Epstein is giving U.K. government officials nightmares, one said.

The president arrives in a country that appears in permanent political crisis. The departures of Mandelson and former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner in a tax scandal a week prior have left serious questions about Starmer’s judgment and even sparked speculation that he could face leadership challenge.