Sir Keir Starmour has admitted he needs to make the Labour Party ‘inclusive’ again as he vows to fight on as Prime Minister.
He told a meeting of Labour MPs he had the ‘most working-class cabinet in history’, something he would need to fend off the threat of Nigel Farage and Reform UK calling it the ‘fight of our lives, the fight of our times’.
Responding to calls from the Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar to resign, Starmer said: ‘I have had my detractors every step along the way, and I’ve got them now. Detractors that don’t want a Labour government at all, and certainly not one to succeed.
‘But I’ll tell you this, after having fought so hard for the chance to change our country, I’m not prepared to walk away from my mandate and my responsibility to my country, or to plunge us into chaos, as others have done.’
Characterised by Downing Street sources as ‘absolutely determined’, Sir Keir apologised again for appointing Lord Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US and paid tribute to his former chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney.
Sir Keir told cheering Labour MPs and peers: ‘I have won every fight I’ve ever been in.
‘I fought to change the Crown Prosecution Service so it better served victims of violence against women and girls.
‘I fought to change the Labour Party to allow us to win an election again.
‘People told me I couldn’t do it. And then they gradually said, you might just get over the line.
‘We won with a landslide majority. Every fight I’ve been in, I have won.’
(Picture: Jacob King/PA Wire)
Meanwhile, Farage declared war on working from home (WFH) at a rapturous reception complete with t-shirt cannons and dry ice machines at Reform’s 2,000 strong rally in Birmingham NEC.
He said: ‘People aren’t more productive working from home – it’s a load of nonsense. They’re more productive being with other fellow human beings.’
‘If a Prime Minister is to lose his credibility, can’t command the House of Commons, can’t command his own party, doesn’t have respect internationally, it is not in the national interest for him or her to stay.
‘I think he should resign, and I think he will before very long.
‘We will make sure that whenever it comes, we are ready to fight and win the election.
‘We are fighting because we believe that we want and need a proud independent country that stands up on its own two feet, that cherishes its past but embraces its future. A place people want to come and live and invest.
‘We have been totally failed by the two-party system. We have been totally failed by career politicians.’
No 10 Chief of Staff Morgan McSweeney stepped down on Sunday following a torrid week where his previous support for Lord Mandelson came under the spotlight.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who has long been seen as a potential challenger to Starmer backed the PM, saying: ‘It has not been the best week for the government and that’s not just Keir Starmer; that’s all of us because we’re a team … I want him to come through it and I want him to set out the plan that people can get behind.’
Wes Streeting reveals WhatsApp messages with Peter Mandelson to clear his name
The messages published by the Health Secretary reveal:
Their relationship was close enough for messages to be signed off with a kiss and for him to praise the ‘lovely photos’ of Mandelson in a newspaper article.
He feared being ‘toast at the next election’ in Ilford North, adding: ‘There isn’t a clear answer to the question: why Labour?’
He suggested the government had ‘no growth strategy at all’ after Mandelson complained about the economic philosophy of the party.
Streeting agreed with Mandelson that ‘the government problems do not stem from comms’, inferring the issue was with Starmer.
He told Mandelson that Israel was ‘committing war crimes before our eyes’ and that the UK needed to join France in recognising the state of Palestine.
In an article for the Guardian, Streeting said that contrary to reports, ‘I was not a ‘close friend’ of Peter Mandelson, but I am not going to wash my hands of my actual association with him either’.
‘We saw each other for dinner on average once a year with others. He offered advice. My partner worked for him 25 years ago and I therefore got to know Mandelson better than some of that generation in politics,’ he wrote.
Asked if Starmer was going to resign today, his spokesman said: ‘No. The Prime Minister is concentrating on the job in hand.
‘He is getting on with the job of delivering change across the country.’
This morning, Downing Street Director of Communications Tim Allan also unexpectedly announced he was leaving his role.
In a brief statement, he said: ‘I have decided to stand down to allow a new Number 10 team to be built.
‘I wish the PM and his team every success.’
