The Prime Minister has come out fighting as he defiantly told Labour rebels, plotters and mutineers that he would ‘absolutely’ lead the party into the next election
Sir Keir Starmer has admitted to suffering through a “tough week” after coming close to losing his job. The “zombie PM” is seen as a dead man walking after a string of coup attempts, which have been blamed on the Health Secretary.
A chaotic Monday (February 9) saw Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar call for the Prime Minister to resign. But Sir Keir has refused to budge, forcing Mr Streeting to rein in his ambitions.
Now, Starmer has come out fighting against Labour’s rebel MPs as he defiantly claimed he would lead the party into the next election. He told The Sun on Sunday: “When you do my job, you have tough weeks.”
“I won the leadership of the Labour Party when people said I wouldn’t. I changed the Labour Party when people said I couldn’t. I won an election when people said we wouldn’t.
“And now I intend to change the country – whatever other people say.” When asked if he would lead Labour into the next election, Starmer said “absolutely.”
“I think it’s absolutely clear that the party does not want to descend into the chaos of the last government. That is crystal clear.
He added: “What the party wants, what the government wants, is to be utterly focused on what matters. That is the safety and security of every citizen and the cost of living, and that cannot be achieved if we don’t face up to the huge threats that we face as a country.”
Earlier this week, Sir Keir’s allies issued a damning assessment of their PM, with one saying: “I don’t think he can sack Wes. I don’t think he has the strength to sack anyone right now.”
Another added: “Sacking Wes would just uncork even more political chaos of the kind we’re trying to avoid.” Mr Streeting has denied he has been part of any coup attempts or was behind Mr Sarwar’s demand for the PM to go. But his backers insist he still wants to replace the PM and the stalking horse may be willing to stand against him after February 26’s by-election.
An ally to Mr Streeting said: “Nothing has changed. There was a big performance of unity but Keir is no safer than he was yesterday.
“At this point Keir is a zombie. He is in the Theresa May phase of his leadership.”
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