Closing summary
Keir Starmer has faced down immediate calls for his resignation after receiving the full backing of his cabinet and delivering an impassioned appeal to the PLP this evening that appears to have steadied the government’s ship, at least for now.
With his position in peril over his appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US, Starmer’s leadership was then plunged into further tumult with the resignation of his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney over the affair. But despite an intervention from Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar and calls from most opposition leaders for him to go, Starmer appears to have done just enough, as he told a crucial meeting of more than 400 Labour MPs and peers that he was “not prepared to walk away” from his mandate and plunge the country into further chaos. The PM pledged to change his Downing Street operation and to fight any challenge that came his way, warning his rivals: “I have won every fight I’ve ever been in.”
Many at the meeting said the PM had succeeded in shifting the narrative after coming out fighting, taking accountability for mistakes that have been made, and pledging to mend relations with MPs. He also stressed that Labour needed to take the fight to Reform UK, which he described as “the fight of our times”. But others warned that Starmer has emerged damaged and was “not out of the woods yet”.
After 24 hours of high drama, tonight Starmer did enough to bring himself back from the brink, but whether it’s enough to unify the party around his leadership – with rivals quietly jockeying for position – long term remains to be seen. For now, he’s surviving but most definitely not thriving.
Angela Rayner threw her weight behind the prime minister, bringing a halt to a potential coup, minutes after the Guardian revealed an unfinished website claiming to launch her leadership campaign was temporarily published.
Wes Streeting published private WhatsApp messages with Mandelson – including ones which questioned Starmer’s communications skills and the government’s growth plan – in an effort to draw a line under his relationship with the disgraced peer and protect future political ambitions.
Tim Allan, Starmer’s director of communications, also quit after only five months in the job, to “allow a new No 10 team to be built”, leaving the prime minister looking for his fifth communications chief since he took office.
Chris Wormald, the UK’s most senior civil servant, is negotiating his exit from the role as part of a broader shake-up of Downing Street, the Guardian learned, adding to the sense of turmoil at the top of government.
Labour insiders fear that McSweeney’s departure leaves the prime minister dangerously exposed as he heads towards a series of policy and electoral challenges – including the Gorton and Denton byelection later this month – that could determine his political future.
Updated
Davey says there must be a general election 'if Labour MPs don't sort themselves out'
Lib Dem leader Ed Davey – who notably didn’t call for Keir Starmer’s resignation today like other opposition parties, though he did call for a no confidence vote in parliament last week – has said there must be a general election if Labour MPs do not “sort themselves out”.
Davey told broadcasters earlier:
Labour were elected to bring change to the country and to end the chaos we saw under the Conservatives. But Keir Starmer has failed to deliver, and we still have this daily soap opera. And it’s damaging the country.
Labour MPs have either got to sort this out among themselves, or there is going to have to be a general election.
And Tan Dhesi, the Labour MP for Slough, did not mince his words when giving his assessment of where the government is tonight. He told Sky News:
This is an existential crisis for the prime minister, for our party, for our government.
And yeah, I mean, this has been fraught.
He said that upon returning to his constituency after Thursday, he had to address his local party members and take questions about the scandal.
“I don’t want to be standing there, you know, when I’m visiting the dementia clinic or going to the local hospital … answering these sort of questions and apologising on behalf of us in Westminster,” he said.
That’s not something that I came into politics [for] ... I don’t want to be associated with that.
However, the BBC cites several sources inside the room where the meeting took place as saying Starmer was faced with a number of critical questions from MPs, including at least two that asked about the peerage for former Downing Street director of communications Matthew Doyle.
“Several of my colleague were very forthright,” one Labour MP told the BBC. “The message got across that things need to change and change quickly.”
Deputy Labour leader Lucy Powell has told Sky News that “dozens” of MPs turned up to support Keir Starmer this evening.
I think what we saw tonight - very, very clearly and resoundingly - was how much support there is for Keir Starmer as our leader in the PLP [parliamentary Labour Party].
I’ve never known a meeting quite like that one this evening.
I think there were maybe three or four or more standing ovations for Keir, including when he entered the room.
Powell added, “we all recognise it’s been a difficult week” and “difficult few days”.
But MPs from across the Labour Party, in their dozens and dozens, wanted to come along this evening to show that the prime minister has their full support.
The most senior civil servant in Downing Street is negotiating his exit as part of a wider shake-up of Keir Starmer’s operation after one of the most dramatic 48 hours of the prime minister’s time in office, sources have told the Guardian.
Chris Wormald, the cabinet secretary, is understood to be negotiating the terms of his departure from No 10. If he does step down, Wormald would be the third senior Downing Street staff member to leave after the departures of Morgan McSweeney, the prime minister’s chief of staff, and Tim Allan, his communications director.
Wormald was appointed just over a year ago but has been under pressure for several months, with some of those close to Starmer having come to view him as a “disastrous” appointment.
One government source said “the writing is on the wall” for Wormald, with Starmer keen to reassert his authority over both his parliamentary party and the wider government after a turbulent past few days.
Another source said Wormald was in talks over taking a seat in the House of Lords as part of his exit deal.
Environment secretary Emma Reynolds has said the “whole Cabinet supports the prime minister”.
Speaking to GB News this evening, she added:
We have a united front here, and the meeting of the parliamentary Labour party, which I have just come from, there was a real sense of unity in that room behind Keir Starmer because we need this Labour government to face outwards, not inwards, not having fights with ourselves, but actually focusing on delivering the change that we have a five-year mandate to do.
Asked about Anas Sarwar’s calls for Starmer to step down, she said: “I think he is wrong, and I respectfully disagree with him.”
She went on to say that the prime minister received “several standing ovations” during today’s PLP meeting “because he is somebody with great integrity who deeply cares about the future of this country”.
Updated
Karl Turner, the Labour MP for Kingston upon Hull East, has said Keir Starmer shut down “any challenge against his leadership” during the parliamentary Labour party (PLP) meeting this evening.
Posting on X, Turner wrote: “PM was at his best tonight. Reflective. Apologetic. But strong.
“Came out fighting. Put to bed any idea of any challenge against his leadership.”
Turner added that it was clear the PLP expects to “see some changes”, explaining that it “needs to feel included and we must use all of the talents our PLP has to offer”.
Keir Starmer urged Labour MPs and peers to unite in the fight against Nigel Farage’s Reform UK during the PLP meeting.
He described the battle with Reform as the “fight of our lives, the fight of our times”.
Starmer added:
It goes to the heart and soul of who we are as a party, as a government, and as a country, what it is to be British… And if they ever get in, they will divide, divide, divide. And it will tear this beautiful country apart. That is the fight of our times.
Starmer told the packed committee room in the House of Commons that as long as he has “breath in my body, I’ll be in that fight, on behalf of the country that I love and I believe in, against those that want to tear it up”.
“That is my fight, that is all of our fight, and we’re in this together,” he added.
'I have won every fight I've ever been in': Starmer tells his MPs he's not prepared to walk away from his mandate
Speaking during a meeting of the parliamentary Labour party, Keir Starmer told MPs and peers he is “not prepared to walk away” from his mandate as prime minister.
Starmer said:
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.
Starmer went on to say he has had “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,” he added.
“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.”
Updated
Keir Starmer appeared “absolutely determined” during a meeting of the parliamentary Labour party (PLP), Downing Street sources said.
Starmer apologised for appointing Lord Peter Mandelson as UK ambassador to the US and paid tribute to his former chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, during the meeting, insiders told the Press Association.
As a reminder, McSweeney stepped down yesterday after advising the prime minister to appoint Mandelson as US ambassador despite his known ties to Epstein.
Starmer also reportedly told MPs he wanted to give more weight to the PLP’s views, acknowledging he had not been “open or inclusive enough”, but added he was not prepared to walk away from his mandate or the country.
'Mistakes have been made but lessons will be learned,' says Reeves
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said Keir Starmer’s address to Labour MPs was “excellent” but admitted it had been a “very difficult” period after revelations about Peter Mandelson and Jeffrey Epstein’s ties emerged.
She said:
Everyone said, Keir is a man of great integrity and he is the person with a mandate to deliver the change that all of our constituents want to see.
The last few days have been very, very difficult for the country, most importantly for the victims of Epstein, difficult for the party.
Mistakes have been made but lessons will be learned.
Updated
The prime minister has reportedly left now after spending over an hour addressing the PLP and it seems like it’s gone well.
Sky News’s Beth Rigby posted on X: “One MP messages me to tell me PM ‘has gone for it and smashed it’ Says he ‘was honest and a bit raw’ but adds lots of MPs ‘desperately want him to succeed’.
And BBC New’s Harry Farley reports that one Labour MP, who is often critical of the prime minister, texted him from inside: “If we could bottle this Keir and show it to the country we’ll walk [the next general election].”
Updated
Culture secretary Lisa Nandy, who we hadn’t heard from when Andy rounded up cabinet members rallying around Keir Starmer earlier (see here and here), came out in support of the PM a few hours ago. She wrote on X:
We were elected just eighteen months ago to fundamentally change this country and improve lives after more than a decade of decline.
The Prime Minister is right to take that obligation seriously and he has my full support as he works in difficult circumstances to deliver.
She’s also told the BBC that she “strongly disagrees” with Anas Sarwar after the Scottish Labour leader called for Starmer’s resignation earlier today.
Nandy said Starmer had “made a mistake” in appointing Peter Mandelson as ambassador, which he is “right to have owned up to” and apologised for. She said the Epstein files have showed that the country is in desperate need of change, adding:
We will go out and do the job that we were elected to do ... we are all fully behind the prime minister.
Wes Streeting says he has 'nothing to hide' over relationship with Mandelson and shares private text messages
Health secretary Wes Streeting has shared some of his private messages with Peter Mandelson with Sky News’s Beth Rigby in an effort to challenge allegations that he and the disgraced former US ambassador were close.
In an interview on the Electoral Dysfunction podcast (here’s a clip), Streeting said of the exchanges, which date back to August 2024 and cover a mix of personal and political matters:
Yeah, so this is the stuff that is going to be covered by the parliamentary inquiry. I’m happy for you to publish them. I’m happy for people to look at them and I’m happy to answer questions about them. I’ve got nothing to hide.
Streeting denied that his relationship with Mandelson was “intimate” and asked if he was embarrassed by the messages, which show that the pair spoke every few weeks, he said:
I’m embarrassed to have known Peter Mandelson.
The messages show that in March last year Streeting told Mandelson that he feared being “toast at the next election” in his Ilford North seat.
He also said that there was no “clear answer” as to why people should vote for Labour and after Mandelson complained about the government’s approach on the economy, Streeting said that the government had “no growth strategy at all”.
Also, in July Streeting asked Mandelson’s views on the UK formally recognising a Palestinian state. He said the UK should back recognition “morally and politically” and accused Israel of “committing war crimes before our very eyes”.
Mandelson also sent Streeting his statement after he was sacked by Keir Starmer, but Streeting didn’t reply.
Updated
Analysis: Sarwar has shown his ruthless streak, but will his swipe at Starmer mean anything to voters?
Anas Sarwar has shown he has a ruthless streak. Once one of Keir Starmer’s staunchest cheerleaders and allies, the Scottish Labour leader is now the most senior party figure to call for him to quit.
Despite anger among his colleagues and criticism that his decision to demand Starmer stands down was “idiotic, immature and self-defeating”, Sarwar’s political calculation is blunt and uncompromising.
Sarwar and his advisers, having watched Scottish Labour’s polling figures plummet as the disarray inside the UK government deepened into chaos and then crisis, believe the risk of calling on Starmer to quit is justified.
Sarwar, by delivering a better result in Scotland at the 2024 general election – winning 35.3% of the vote compared with Labour’s 33.7% at UK level – managed to double his party’s support levels in a matter of months. That has now evaporated. Scottish Labour sits at 18% in the polls.
Scottish Labour’s leadership have been in crisis talks since the issue of Peter Mandelson’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein grew into a fully fledged scandal last week. But Sarwar’s call for Starmer to quit is freighted with risks.
If Starmer limps on in the lead-up to Scottish elections in May or Labour descends into civil war, Sarwar’s failure to deliver the coup de grace will be used by his opponents in a campaign to claim he is weak or, worse, ignored.
A successful outcome for Sarwar, such as it is, relies on Starmer quitting now. He needs Starmer to resign gracefully and with humility. And it would matter too who stands to replace him.
Sarwar’s allies may be gambling that a leadership contest will produce candidates that can rouse voters who have fled to Reform or the Greens to reconsider Labour, or at the very least, lance the boil they feel Starmer’s premiership has become.
However, voters may see this ruthlessness as the kind of betrayal they dislike in politicians; if they already felt let down by Labour, they may be utterly indifferent. It may simply be too late and too self-destructive.
Read Severin’s full analysis here:
The former head of Homes England has announced he is joining Reform UK, as Nigel Farage said he was planning to bring more “experts” on board to advise the party.
The move by Simon Dudley was also being framed as a blow for Kemi Badenoch after he had been brought into the Conservative party’s treasurers department as recently as October last year by party chairman Kevin Hollinrake.
Dudley, who comes with experience in international banking and held roles at HSBC and other companies, was chair of the Ebsfleet Development Corporation until July last year, overseeing the creation of a new town the size of Chichester.
“For too long, the two main parties have failed to deliver housing for Brits,” said Dudley. “They’ve pursued a disastrous combination of extreme levels of immigration with a severe lack of new good quality homes.”
Starmer addresses parliamentary Labour party amid Mandelson scandal fallout
Keir Starmer has arrived for his meeting with the PLP. The BBC reports that he entered to cheers from the room, which is packed with Labour MPs and peers inside, and with journalists outside.
It’s all taking place behind closed doors, but I’ll bring you all the latest once we get word of how it’s gone.
Updated
Reed announces extra £440m for council areas 'hardest hit by historic cuts'
The No 10 leadership crisis that has preoccupied Westminster today has distracted attention from an announcement about the government allocating an extra £440m for poor councils in England. As Max Kendix reports in the Times, the money has been released following complaints from Labour MPs representing deprived constituencies in the north of England that their constituencies were losing out under a new deprivation formula used to allocate local authority spending. Steve Reed, the housing, communities and local government secretary, said:
We inherited a system where the communities that needed the most support were left behind. Today we’re turning the page.
This £78bn settlement is about real change – potholes filled, streets kept clean, older people looked after, and young people having somewhere to go in their area.
And with an extra £440m for areas hardest hit by historic cuts, we’re making sure every community gets its fair share.
That is all from me for today.
Lucy Campbell is taking over, and she will be bringing news from Keir Starmer’s address to the PLP.
Bill to remove Mandelson's peerage likely to be general one aimed to rogue peers, Jones tells MPs
In the Commons Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the PM, told MPs that the legislation planned by the government to remove Peter Mandelson’s peerage (see 4.40pm) would probably be a general bill, not one specifically targeting Mandelson. Jones said:
The government’s preference is to bring forward legislation that could be applied to any peer who is subject to breaching the rules and bringing the other place into disrepute.
He also said he was told a “bill of that nature has not been brought before Parliament since 1425”.
John Swinney says Anas Sarwar's call for Starmer to resign shows he's 'an opportunist'
John Swinney, Scotland’s SNP first minister, has accused Anas Sarwar of being an “opportunist” after the Scottish Labour leader said Keir Starmer should stand down.
Swinney told PA Media:
For years, he has been a cheerleader for Keir Starmer and he’s described himself as an old friend of Peter Mandelson, without a moment’s thought for the victims of Jeffrey Epstein.
And now he suddenly wants us to believe that Keir Starmer should move on, having defended all of the terrible decisions that Keir Starmer has made.
What today tells us is that Anas Sarwar is an opportunist, and that he’s prepared to use every opportunity for his own self-preservation.
Here is Severin Carrell’s analysis of Sarwar’s intervention.
And here is an extract.
Sarwar’s primary calculation is that Scotland’s electorate will hear and enjoy his comments about his loyalty being to Scotland. Insisting his “first priority and first loyalty” was to Scotland, he sought to justify his decision to call for Starmer to go as being one of service in the national interest …
And yet it is another huge risk. Sarwar will have numerous opportunities to repeat this line in interviews, on leaflets and in televised election debates. However, voters may see this ruthlessness as the kind of betrayal they dislike in politicians; if they already felt let down by Labour, they may be utterly indifferent. It may simply be too late and too self-destructive.
Ben Quinn is a Guardian political correspondent.
Nigel Farage has doubled down on culture war rhetoric at a rally where he told thousands of Reform UK’s rank and file that he was opening up the party’s lists to candidates for a general election.
The Reform leader drew cheers for a speech at the Birmingham NEC where said that a Reform UK government would get rid of all solar farms and take on “leftwing teaching unions.” He added that a Reform government would also ensure there was respect “Judeo-Christian principles underpin the entirety of our civilization”.
Farage also ratcheted up the party’s claims that crime was out of control, claiming that there had been a “near total collapse of law and order” in cities such as London.
However, there was a noticeable lack of new policy or other eye catching announcements at an event which has been weeks in the planning.
This saw speculation that the party may have opted to hold off on announcing new defections on a day when Downing Street found itself under relentless pressure over Keir Starmer’s future.
To cheers, Farage said he had asked for Reform’s lists of those seeking to be potential election candidates to be opened up from 3pm earlier in the day.
Setting out a scenario which he believed had suddenly become more likely, he said: “This whole thing could just unravel ... Starmer goes ... the party moves to the hard left there is a further exodus of capital, The bond markets lose confidence.”
Deputy Labour leader Lucy Powell backs Starmer, suggesting he has agreed to be more 'inclusive and collaborative'
Lucy Powell, the deputy Labour leader, has also issued a statement backing Keir Starmer. She suggests Starmer has agreed to be more “inclusive and collaborative”.
I will be sitting alongside Keir Starmer at the PLP this evening as Deputy Leader with my full support.
He and I have been discussing in recent days, and before, how we need to do better to take the fight to Reform (as we are doing in Gorton & Denton) and by showing we are on the side of ordinary people. That also means being more inclusive and collaborative in the way we work. Keir gets that.
I very much look forward to continuing that work together as one Labour team, with Keir as our leader. I know most colleagues feel the same.
Farage claims Reform UK has 'broken mould of British politics', succeeding where Roy Jenkins failed
Ben Quinn is a Guardian political correspondent.
Does Reform UK’s leader know something that isn’t public yet?
Nigel Farage took to the stage at Reform UK rally at the Birimgham NEC in front of thousands of members, where even some of the faithful looked a bit bemused when he referred to Rachel Reeves as “the most useless prime minister.”
“She’s the chancellor!” a few of those sitting close to the stage shouted back at Farage, who had opened up his speech by eliciting laughs for claiming that the curtains were closed at Downing Street.
On more solid ground, Farage triggered the usual jeers for mentions of net zero and had a go at those asserting that a Reform government would speed up the privatisation of the NHS. He said:
I can say today for the first time that the two party system we have known for all our lives is gone. It’s over. Reform has broken the mould of British politics, something Roy Jenkins tried and failed.
He said he approached the coming local elections on 7 May with “a growing sense of optimism”, and said that “growing numbers” of people in places where local elections had been cancelled were cancelling their direct debits for council tax in those areas.
“They are doing so on the basis of no taxation without representation,” said Farage.
“Of course I could not possibly ..” added Farage, trailing off to laughter.
Liz Kendall says Starmer should stay as PM because voters 'sick of all changes in leadership' under Tories
In an interview with Sky News, Liz Kendall, the technology secretary, said that she thought Keir Starmer could and should stay on as PM. She said:
I believe he can, and he should [survive] because I think I remember only too well, one of the reasons why the country elected us was because they were sick of all the changes in leadership under the Conservatives.
I think it would be wrong after barely 18 months after our election for people to think that they can just change the leader.
I think that that is not the right approach, but I do believe that we need to steady the ship, but we also need to change course because the public wants to see change in the country.
Jones says government wants to stop MPs having second jobs with 'very limited exemptions'
Jones told MPs that, with the Ethics and Integrity Commission, the government will review whether the rules on declarations of interests for ministers and senior officials.
He said the rules on the use of “non-corporate communication channels” within government (ie WhatsApp) would be reviewed.
And he said the government is determined to tighten the rules on MPs having second jobs.
The government is committed to the principle that second jobs for members of parliament should be banned outside of very limited exceptions, such as maintaining professional qualification.
The committee on standards is currently conducting an inquiry into second jobs, and we are working with the committee to deliver meaningful change as quickly as possible.
As leader of the Commons, Lucy Powell floated action on this soon after the election.
But, aftrer the rightwing papers made it clear that they would interprete this as an attack on Nigel Farage’s right to earn hundreds of thousands of pounds from his work as a GB News presenter, the government seemed to lose interest in pushing this reform through.
Appointments to roles with access to secret material won't be announced until vetting finished, Jones says
Jones said that the governement is going to change vetting rules for ministerial appointments where the role requires access to highly classified material. In future, candidates will not be announced until all the national security vetting has been carried out.
In the case of Peter Mandelson, it was announced that No 10 intended to make him ambassador to the US before all the vetting had been finished.
Updated
Jones says government will legislate 'to ensure peerages can be removed from disgraced peers'
Jones says the PM “has confirmed that the government will bring forward legislation to ensure peerages can be removed from disgraced peers”.
That goes a bit further than what we were told last week. At that point, No 10 just said the PM had asked officials to draw up legislation on this.
Jones says the government has already strengthened the role of the No 10 ethics adviser, and set up the ethics and integrity commission.
He says ministers have to publish information about gifts and hospitality more often.
The rules about severance payments have been changed, he goes on.
And he says the Hillsborough bill has been introduced.
Darren Jones tells MPs Epstein scandal shows need for 'wider changes in culture and use of power'
In the Commons Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the PM, is making a statement about conduct in public life.
He says the review of material relating to Peter Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to the US that he announced in a statement last week ultimately led to a referral to the police.
Jones says he is announcing further changes today.
He says the Jeffrey Epstein scandal requires “wider changes in the culture and use of power”.
Here is the clip of Anas Sarwar calling for Keir Starmer’s resignation.
Streeting backs Starmer, saying he 'doesn't need to resign'
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, told Sky’s Beth Rigby on her Electoral Dysfuncation podcast that Keir Starmer’s “doesn’t need to resign.
EXCLUSIVE: Spoken to Wes Streeting for Electoral Dysfunction podcast in past hour.
Acknowledges atmosphere “febrile” but tells me “Keir Starmer doesn’t need to resign”
“It has not been the best week for the government”
“Give Keir a chance”
That sounds like a relatively half-hearted endorsement – although maybe Streeting sounded a bit more supportive in the full interview (which I haven’t heard yet).
Streeting, of course, is a leading candidate to replace the PM.
Revealed: ‘Rayner for leader’ site briefly went live in January
Angela Rayner’s statement may also distract attention from this highly intriguing scoop by the Guardian’s political editor, Pippa Crerar.
Pippa says:
An unfinished website claiming to launch Angela Rayner’s Labour leadership campaign was published temporarily in January, prompting further speculation that the former deputy prime minister could be gearing up for a contest to replace Keir Starmer.
The Guardian was alerted to the website, which appeared to be under construction, by a source in the IT industry – before the US Department of Justice’s latest release of documents on Jeffrey Epstein threw the UK government into disarray. It was published, seemingly by accident, on a “staging site”, before being removed from the internet.
‘If someone had pulled the trigger’: MPs rue lack of challenger to oust Starmer
The domain name angelaforleader.co.uk was registered within minutes of the apparent publishing error, at 9.48am on 27 January, with the same company – Webfusion – as her official parliamentary site.
Rayner has denied any links to the website, with her team dismissing it as a “fake” that had neither been commissioned by her, nor with her knowledge, while one ally described it as a “false flag” operation.
Rayner says Starmer has her 'full support' as Labour gets on with changing things
Angela Rayner, the former deputy PM and a leading candidate to replace Keir Starmer, has also issued a statement of support for the PM. She says:
The recent scandal around Peter Mandelson and Jeffrey Epstein was shocking - and demands that both this government and our party learn the lessons, and act on them. 1/3
But the worst possible response would be to play party politics or factional games. Labour is only getting started on changing things for the better - our Employment Rights Act, renters’ rights, leasehold reform, free school meals and lifting kids out of poverty. 2/3
I urge all my colleagues to come together, remember our values and put them into practice as a team. The Prime Minister has my full support in leading us to that end. 3/3
If we were at this stage in the afternoon, and key figures in the party were still refusing to give their backing, then it would be looking bleak for Keir Starmer. But Rayner’s statement, after the endorsements from all members of the cabinet (see 3.09pm) and 3.50pm), means that none of the figures in the party with the clout to trigger a significant wave of no confidence declarations is primed to act today. Starmer is probably safe for the next few days.
This also means Anas Sarwar gone over the top on his own. But that probably won’t worry him much. His focus is on Scottish politics, not Westminster politics, and he will judge that he is in a stronger position as the Holyrood elections approach not being aligned with Starmer.
Starmer receives public statements of support from every member of his cabinet
And here are more statements from cabinet ministers backing Keir Starmer.
From Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary
Later this week, Keir Starmer will lead our delegation to the Munich Security Conference. At this crucial time for the world, we need his leadership not just at home but on the global stage, and we need to keep our focus where it matters, on keeping our country safe.
From Pat McFadden, the work and pensions secretary
As someone said to me in the constituency on Friday “tell your boss to keep going.”
I did and I hope he does.
From Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the PM
The battle for Britain in the years ahead is between a modern, diverse Britain led by Labour or a dark, divisive Britain under Reform. All of us in the Labour Party must get behind the Prime Minister, rise to the challenge and deliver a richer, fairer and stronger future.
From Bridget Phillipson, the education secrtary
— Bridget Phillipson (@bphillipsonMP) February 9, 2026
From Ed Miliband, the energy secretary
Keir has earned the right to deliver the change he has promised and do what he cares about - which is to serve the country. This is not the time for the government to turn inwards on itself. We must focus on delivering the change we promised the country.
From Peter Kyle, the business secretary
I back Keir Starmer as Prime Minister. The economy is growing, let's focus on delivering for the British people.
— Peter Kyle (@peterkyle) February 9, 2026
From Jo Stevens, the Welsh secretary
Keir Starmer is a good, decent man with public service running through his veins. He came into politics for all the right reasons. He’s defied the naysayers many time and he’ll do so again. He’s changing and renewing our country and has restored it’s reputation across the world.
From Jonathan Reynolds, the chief whip
The Prime Minister has my full support and is delivering the change the country voted for. He won a mandate to serve working people and the country and we must continue to deliver on the progress we’ve already made. Resorting to infighting now does not serve the country.
And – within the last few minutes – from Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary
The PM won a five year mandate from the British people just 18 months ago.
Labour governments don’t come along often. It is a privilege to serve in one and we must not waste a second.
The PM has my full support. Let’s get on with changing the country for the better.
Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, and Wes Streeting, the health secretary, have not put out supportive statements on X. But they have both given interviews backing Starmer. (I will post the details shortly.)
And Angela Smith, the leader of the Lords, has not declared her loyalty to Starmer on X either. But she has had the good sense not to post on X since the summer of 2024. Her spokesperson has put out a statement saying “of course” she supports the PM.
That means Starmer has now secured public expressions of support from every member of his cabinet.
Douglas Alexander says Starmer accepts Labour must 'change how we do government' as he expresses support for PM
As Scottish secretary, Douglas Alexander is supposed to be masterminding Scottish Labour’s campaign for the Holyrood elections with Anas Sarwar. He is disagreeing with Sarwar, but respectfully. He says Keir Starmer accepts that Labour has to “change how we do government” and he says (because of that, he implies) he is supporting him.
Statement: pic.twitter.com/hB6WyI9RfF
— Douglas Alexander (@D_G_Alexander) February 9, 2026
This is a slightly more qualified statement of support than those that other cabinet ministers have been issuing. (See 3.09pm.)
David Lammy and Rachel Reeves take lead as cabinet minsters rally behind Starmer
Earlier journalists were starting to make a point about the fact that cabinet ministers were not rallying behind Keir Starmer in public. (See 12.18pm.)
Now, someone has organised some online cheerleading. Here are some of the cabinet ministers who have posted on social media.
From David Lammy, the deputy PM
Keir Starmer won a massive mandate 18 months ago, for five years to deliver on Labour’s manifesto that we all stood on.
We should let nothing distract us from our mission to change Britain and we support the Prime Minister in doing that.
From Rachel Reeves, the chancellor
Rebuilding Britain takes time. But thanks to the decisions we’ve made NHS waiting lists are falling. Inflation is falling. Interest rates are falling. The conditions for the economy to grow are there.
With Keir as our Prime Minister we are turning the country around.
From Steve Reed, the housing secretary
Keir led our party to victory and won a mandate for change. Waiting lists are falling, wages are rising, new rights for renters and leaseholders. We need to stay the course and deliver the change this country voted for.
From Hilary Benn, the Northern Ireland secretary
Now is the time for calm heads and seriousness of purpose. That is why the Prime Minister has my full support.
From John Healey, the defence secretary
The British public gave Keir a huge mandate only 18 months ago. They wanted a Labour government. They want us to deliver the change we promised. They expect us to get on with the job. The PM has my fullest support in leading this government and this country.
From Heidi Alexander, the transport secretary
I respect @anassarwar but he is wrong. Keir led our party to a General Election victory 18 months ago and he is the right person for the job in difficult circumstances. The public want us to fix the country’s problems, not fixate on ourselves.
From Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Cabinet Office minister
Keir has taken us from our worst defeat since 1935 to changing lives in Government. He’s one of only four Labour Leaders to win a General Election. We can’t go back to the misery of decline of the Tory years - we need to keep our foot on the gas every day to deliver change.
These all comments were all posted at roughly the time that Anas Sarwar started his press conference.
These are just some of the cabinet ministers who have expressed their confidence in Keir Starmer. I will post more comments shortly.
Asked to clarify his relationship with Mandelson, Sarwar said that he had known him from around 2021. And he met him when he was ambassador, and Sarwar was visiting Washington.
But he now thinks Mandelson betrayed his country.
He has betrayed this country. He has betrayed the party he was once a member of. And he has betrayed the public in terms of his actions and his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
Sarwar said Mandelson was not someone he wanted to be associated with.
And that was the end of the press conference.
Sarwar says it causes 'hurt and pain' turning on Starmer, but his first loyalty has to be Scotland
Q: How did Starmer react when you told him what you were doing?
Sarwar says there is “probably no one in Scottish politics that has had a better relationship with Keir Starmer or a closer friendship with Keir Starmer than I have”.
They have campaigned together, he says.
So does this cause me personal hurt and pain? Of course it does. This man is someone that I regard as a friend and who I have a certain level of loyalty to.
But my first priority and my first loyalty has to be to my country, Scotland. And that’s the decision I have made in terms of the election on the 7 May.
Updated
Q: Are you comfortable being the person who pulled the trigger on Keir Starmer?
Sarwar says he is doing what he thinks is right for Scotland.
Q: How can we take you seriously when you described Peter Mandelson as a friend last year?
Sarwar says Mandelson “is not someone or something I want to be associated with”.
He says he met him in his capacity as ambassador to the US, because that was in the interests of Scotland.
UPDATE: The question was referring to this tweet.
It was great to catch up with my old friend and the UK’s (relatively!) new Ambassador to the US, Peter Mandelson @UKinUSA. pic.twitter.com/gjtejXIDyB
— Anas Sarwar (@AnasSarwar) April 4, 2025
Updated
Sarwar says he spoke to Starmer this morning to tell him what he would be saying. “It’s safe to say that he and I disagreed,” he says.
Q: Last week you told me Starmer could still be PM at the next election?
Sarwar says he said Starmer could stay on a PM. But he also said there had to be answers, and it is now clear there have been “too many incidences where the wrong judgment calls have been made”.
There have been too many mistakes, he says. That is distracting from the work of the government.
And it’s also distracting from the big choice that people in Scotland have to make in three months’ time.
Updated
Sarwar says he's not backing alternative candidate for Labour leader
Sarwar is now taking questions.
Q: Who do you want to replace Keir Starmer?
Sarwar says he is not backing an alternative candidate for leader.
UPDATE: Sarwar said:
This is not about MPs versus MSPs, this is about what is right for Scotland and it is for the UK cabinet, it is for Downing Street, it is for the UK Labour party to decide any process, any timeline and what comes next.
Updated
Sarwar says there have been 'too many mistakes' from Starmer, and Labour's achievements being 'drowned out'
Sarwar says the SNP government in Scotland is failing.
We have an NHS crisis where too many Scots cannot access the treatment they need and when they need it.
We have a housing emergency with more than 10,000 Scottish children homeless right now, and we have too many young people not feeling safe at school or on our streets, or missing out on the opportunities they deserve.
And we have an SNP government that is addicted to secrecy and cover ups with devastating consequences.
That is why I have to be honest about failure wherever I see it.
The situation in Downing Street is not good enough. There have been too many mistakes.
Sarwar says of course good things have been achieved.
But no one knows them and no one can hear them because they’re being drowned out.
That’s why it cannot continue.
Sarwar says he's calling for Starmer to quit because 'failures' in No 10 means SNP failures 'continue here in Scotland'
Anas Sarwar says his first loyalty is to Scotland.
This has not been easy, he says.
But he says his first loyalty is to Scotland. And he is not willing to sacrifice Scotland’s schools and hospitals to a third decade of SNP rule.
I am not willing to sacrifice Scotland’s NHS, our schools, our communities, our towns, cities, villages and islands to a third decade of an SNP government.
That’s why the distraction needs to end. And the leadership in Downing Street has to change.
It is so obvious that we desperately need change in Scotland and in three months’ time, the opportunity to get rid of a failing SNP government is one that is too important to be missed.
We cannot allow the failures at the heart of Downing Street to mean the failures continue here in Scotland, because the election in May is not without consequence for the lives of Scots.
Anas Sarwar holds press conference
Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, is about to hold his press conference.
Until recently, he has been relatively loyal to Keir Starmer.
Eluned Morgan, the Labour Welsh first minister, will not be joining Anas Sarwar and calling for Keir Starmer’s resignation, Pippa Crerar reports.
The Labour MP Jess Asato is urging her colleagues not to turn on Keir Starmer. In an interview with Times Radio, she said constituents had been urging her to back the PM. The public would not forgive Labour if it turned on Stamer, she said. And she said colleagues had “learned nothing” from the years of Tory chaos if they thought a “magic person” was available to solve the government’s problems.
The Liberal Democrats have not been calling for Keir Starmer’s resignation today, unlike other opposition parties (see 1.57pm), but on Friday last week Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, did call for a no confidence vote in parliament. He said:
Keir Starmer should say ‘put up or shut up’. Let’s have a confidence vote now to see whether Labour MPs have any confidence in the prime minister, so the government can get past this one way or the other and start focusing on the change our country needs.
SNP criticises Sarwar for only calling for Starmer's resignation now, claiming his judgment flawed when he used to back him
The SNP has joined other opposition parties, like the Conservatives (see 9.21am) and the Greens (see 12.45pm), in calling for Keir Starmer’s resignation.
In a statement issued before it was revealed that Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, is set to call for Starmer to quit, Stephen Flynn, the SNP leader at Westminster, said:
The Labour government is in chaos and completely distracted from the issues that matter - like helping families with the cost of living, which has soared under Keir Starmer.
On the prime minister’s watch, the Labour Party has lurched from one crisis to another and has failed to deliver the ‘change’ voters were promised. Instead, we’ve had more of the same …This never-ending chaos can’t go on. Keir Starmer should do the decent thing and resign.
And this is what Flynn said after it emerged that Sarwar is about to speak out.
Anas Sarwar has been the biggest cheerleader for Keir Starmer - what does that say about his judgment?
Anas Sarwar bragged about being an old friend of Peter Mandelson - what does that say about his judgment?
Anas Sarwar expressed confidence in Keir Starmer just last Thursday, and now he has acted in self-preservation to save his own skin.
That fact won’t be lost on the Scottish public come May who will see right through Anas Sarwar and his appalling judgment which has been laid bare for all to see.
Anas Sarwar promised us that Keir Starmer would be the change Scotland needed, why would anyone ever trust his judgment again?
Updated
Pippa Crerar is the Guardian’s political editor.
Some Labour figures are alarmed by the growing clamour for Keir Starmer’s resignation. One senior figure told the Guardian:
Those calling on PM to step down need to take a breath and think about the consequences. The public will not forgive us for spending months infighting instead of delivering for them. Keir is being honest about what he’s got wrong, and making changes to show how this government and politics generally can be a force for good.
Margaret Hodge, the Labour peer and former minister, told the World at One that she thought Keir Starmer was not minded to resign at this point. If he had been, Morgan McSweeney would not have resigned yesterday, she said. She said she did not want him to go because she wanted him to stay on to implement what was in the Labour manifesto, particularly with regard to cleaning up politics.
Labour MP Graham Stringer says Starmer 'cannot survive this amount of chaos'
The Labour MP Graham Stringer has told Radio 4’s the World at One that he does not think Keir Starmer can survive as prime minister.
Interview just after the programme reported that Anas Sarwar is expected to call for Starmer’s resignation this afternoon, Stringer said:
I think the prime minister cannot survive this amount of chaos. I don’t want him to go now. I think we have to wait and see what the results for local governments in England, are and the elections in Wales and Scotland and that will give Labour MPs and the Labour party nationally time sitting through what is the right process.
Stringer said that he heard people on the media saying Starmer could survive. But, he went on:
When I come into the House of Commons and talk to everybody, I don’t hear that opinion at all. So it is clearly a question of when, not if.
Stringer admitted that he had not spoken to all 400-odd Labour MPs. But he said the ones he had spoken to, “from the top of the parliamentary Labour party to the newest members … are of one view”.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar to call for Starmer's resignation at 2.30pm press conference
Severin Carrell is the Guardian’s Scotland editor.
Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, is to call on Keir Starmer to stand down as prime minister and Labour leader at a hastily arranged press conference in Glasgow.
Sarwar is furious that the prime minister’s repeated mistakes have heavily damaged support for Scottish Labour in the run-up to a crucial Scottish parliament election in May.
The latest opinion polls show Labour trailing in third place behind the Scottish National party and Reform, despite triumphing in the 2024 general election.
Updated
Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, is expected to call for Keir Starmer’s resignation at his press conference at 2.30pm, Glenn Campbell, BBC Scotland’s political editor, is reporting. Campbell says:
Sarwar has hastily arranged a news conference in Glasgow … where he will set out his position on Keir Starmer’s leadership of the country and then of the Labour party.
Senior figures in the Scottish party have been saying in recent days that their chances in May’s elections would be improved if Starmer left office.
Sarwar would be the most senior Labour figures to call for Starmer’s resignation.
Updated
Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, is holding a press conference in Glasgow at 2.30pm. There is speculation that he may use this to call for Keir Starmer’s resignation. Chris Mason, the BBC’s political editor, has just told the World at One that Sarwar’s office have been offered the chance to say he won’t be doing that, but that they’re not replying.
Tim Allan does not seem to be working his notice. Here is the out of office on his WhatsApp.
Darren Jones expected to announce post-Mandelson tougher standards rules in statement to MPs this afternoon
Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the PM, will make a statement in the Commons later being billed as an “update on standards in public life”.
This is expected to include proposals that would beef up vetting procedures for people being appointed to the post that Peter Mandelson held, ambassador to the US.
In an article for the Guardian at the weekend, Gordon Brown, the former prime minister, set out his own proposals on this topic. He said:
This week’s events show why it is also imperative that the government bring in a fully accountable system for vetting major appointments such as those of Mandelson, and one that allows public scrutiny. Before the first world war, an incoming minister had to immediately put himself up for re-election as a constituency MP as a condition of taking up government office. A minister making executive decisions was seen as different from a legislator scrutinising them. It is because we have had since then no satisfactory means of vetting ministerial or other major appointments that mistakes are so easily made.
The way forward is to hold parliamentary hearings, similar to those in the US Senate, for newly appointed ministers to ensure the right questions are asked and answered in public about present and past interests and conduct. We already have formal parliamentary hearings for new members of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee. It is a system of formal vetting that should extend at a minimum to senior ambassadors. If it had been in place last year, it would have led to a very different ambassadorial appointment.
The Jones statement will start at around 4.15pm, after an urgent question on the sentencing of Jimmy Lai.
Updated
Green leader Zack Polanski says Starmer should resign for 'totally unacceptable failure of leadership'
Zack Polanski, the Green party leader, has called for Keir Starmer’s resignation. In a statement, he said:
[Morgan] McSweeney needed to go, but so too does Starmer. He knew about Mandelson’s ongoing relationship with a convicted child sex offender. This was a totally unacceptable failure of leadership.
This whole saga also demonstrates how broken and compromised our politics is and that Labour can’t and won’t fix it. We need a different kind of politics – one where powerful, wealthy and corrupt men are shown the door, where exploitation is rooted out and inequality tackled. This is how we make hope normal again.
No 10 claims Starmer 'positive, confident and determined', despite resignation of two key aides within 24 hours
The No 10 lobby briefing has just finished. Here are the main points.
Keir Starmer is “positive, confident and determined”, the PM’s spokesperson told journalists. He said:
The prime minister is getting on with the job of delivering change across the country. That was the tone and the content of his address to staff in No 10 this morning.
Asked about the PM’s mood, the spokesperson said:
He was upbeat, confident in his speech to staff this morning. He spoke about how he’s driven by the values of public service. He talked about how that was what brought him into politics later in life after a career, most recently as director of public prosecutions … [He was] positive, confident and determined.
When it was put to the spokesperson there were reports saying Starmer was very depressed at the end of last week, and that he was even contemplating resigning, the spokesperson replied:
That’s not the prime minister who appeared in front of staff this morning.
The question was referring to stories like this one in the Times on Saturday, which said: One cabinet minister predicted that Starmer could quit on Monday after he had taken the opportunity to reflect on the events of recent days with his wife, Victoria.
The spokesperson said that Starmer will not be resigning today. Asked explicitly if the PM would resign today, the spokesperson replied: “No.”
The spokesperson said that the PM’s speech to No 10 staff earlier (see 11.54am) did not mention Tim Allan’s resignation because that was announced later.
The spokesperson played down suggestions that Allan was sacked, pointing out that Allan said in his statement (see 11.15am) he had decided to stand down.
The spokesperson would not comment on whether Allan would qualify for a severance payment.
The spokesperson played down suggestions that Allan may have quit because he is worried about embarrassing messages between him and Peter Mandelson being released as a result of the humble address motion passed by MPs on Wednesday. It is understood that the process of finding information that will have to be disclosed has only just got underway.
The spokesperson said that officials were still looking at what legislation might be needed to remove Peter Mandelson’s peerage.
Updated
The Conservatives are urging Labour MPs to replace Keir Starmer. In a statement about the resignation of Tim Allan, Matt Vickers, the Tory deputy chair, said:
The rats are abandoning the sinking ship that is Keir Starmer’s premiership.
Labour MPs should stop moaning and put him out of his misery. The country deserves so much better than this weak, chaotic government.
Jason Groves from the Daily Mail says he is surprised cabinet ministers have not been speaking in public today to defend Keir Starmer.
Distinct lack of cabinet ministers taking to the airwaves this morning to defend the beleaguered PM in his hour of need. Happy to leave it to unelected junior minister Jacqui Smith to try and put a positive gloss on things…
Where are the Cabinet? Not a peep out of any of them in public in the last 24 turbulent hours apart from Pat McFadden arguing there was ‘no point whatsoever’ in Morgan McSweeney resigning, shortly before he did
What commentators are saying about Starmer's plight
You can read all the Guardian’s coverage of the crisis in No 10 here.
And here are extracts from articles by other journalists and commentators published overnight or this morning. These are all articles filed before it was announced that Tim Allan had resigned.
Tim Shipman at the Spectator says he thinks that Labour is in a weaker position without Morgan McSweeney in Downing Street.
All that said, there are very few people near the top of this administration who respect the voters as McSweeney does and who dragged Starmer out of his soft-left, legalistic mindset to get tough on immigration or consider welfare reform, and what follows is much more likely to be a wishy-washy Old Labour tax-and-spend trend with Starmer, or whoever replaces him.
There is a parallel here with Theresa May and her twin ‘chiefs’, Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill. After the 2017 general election, where May surrendered David Cameron’s hard-won majority, the cabinet demanded their heads. May was a creation of ‘Nick and Fi’ every bit as much as Starmer was a creature of McSweeney’s design. Removing the aides who gave her a vision and purpose did nothing for May, who stumbled on, disastrously for Britain, for two more years, shorn of purpose or political skills.
Any Labour MP who thinks they are in a better place to win an election or win over the voters now than they were yesterday needs their head testing. One way of replacing McSweeney would be to bring in Jonathan Powell as chief of staff, the role he performed for Tony Blair, but my understanding is he’s happier running foreign affairs.
Oliver Wright and Steven Swinford in the Times say that some ministers believe that Keir Starmer could resign soon. This is from their overnight story.
Cabinet ministers believe the move will ultimately leave the prime minister “weaker” even if it buys him some time with furious Labour MPs.
“It’s his last card,” one said. “He can only do this once. He is so much weaker because he doesn’t have Morgan to bail him out any more.”
Another cabinet minister said: “We’re asking the question of whether he will be there at the end of the week. There’s a feeling he could stand down at any moment. The next 48 hours is going to be crucial.”
George Eaton at the New Statesman says McSweeney never converted a campaigning coalition into a governing one.
Confusion endures over what McSweeney, who joined Labour in 1998 after being inspired by the Good Friday agreement, truly represented. The man described to me by Blue Labour’s Maurice Glasman as “one of ours” is also cast as the protégée of Mandelson whose New Labour project was yesterday damned by Glasman as “an alien body that took over the party”.
But this apparent paradox is easily resolved: the long war against Corbynism and the Conservatives had the effect of uniting Labour’s right in a tactical alliance. As a consequence, tensions and contradictions went unresolved. A campaigning project was never developed into a governing one. There is no better proof of this than the government’s tax lock, a New Labour-inspired device that left it struggling to raise scarce amounts from pensioners, farmers and pubs, undercutting McSweeney’s supposed communitarian impulses. The appointment of Mandelson similarly reflected an administration better at restaging the past than at inventing the future.
Rachel Sylvester at the Observer says, although the resignation of McSweeney offers Starmer a chance for a reset, it is probably too late.
This could be the chance for a “reset” if Starmer dares to take it, an opportunity for the prime minister to define his leadership on his own terms. He is also being urged by senior Labour figures to replace Chris Wormold, the cabinet secretary to improve the performance of the government.
It is unlikely to be enough. The Labour leader may have bought a little time by sacrificing McSweeney but he has also highlighted his vulnerability. Last week one former Cabinet minister told me: “If Morgan is in trouble then Keir is in trouble. Morgan created Keir and Keir is totally dependent on him, if he gets rid of Morgan it’s game over.”
Already MPs are asking why, if the chief of staff has resigned over his advice to appoint Mandelson, the prime minister is not quitting for actually taking the decision. “Morgan had to go,” one Labour peer said. “He’s been a disaster, everyone thinks he’s a genius but he’s been a third rate Mandelson, not nearly as clever as people think. He should have gone ages ago. But it’s not going to be enough to save Keir.”
Alex Wickham from Bloomberg says there is no clear successor to Starmer.
-The extraordinary thing is Labour has decided to bury Starmer without any plan for a replacement or any credible successor. Rayner is seen as the frontrunner but Labour figures predict a free-for-all, tipping at least six others to go for the job, from Miliband to Shabana Mahmood and Yvette Cooper. It says it all that Al Carns is on runners and riders lists.
-An ally of Starmer warned that if Rayner or Miliband take over Britain would face a market and economic shock. They said if Starmer is ousted a new PM should call an election as they would have no legitimacy to lead the country.
-The Labour right is flailing as it tries to stop Rayner. Once upon a time they’d have backed Wes Streeting, but they’ve all fallen out and Streeting is now tainted by his own close links to Mandelson. Several suggested John Healey should take over. One pitched him as the only sane person left in the Labour party and the only one with any international credibility.
Starmer tells No 10 staff politics can be 'force for good' and says government moving forward 'with confidence'
Keir Starmer has delivered a message to Downing Street staff telling them that he believes politics can be a “force for good” and that he wants the government to go forward “with confidence”.
From the extracts released by Labour, Starmer gave no indication that he intends to resign. But he did not seem to have a striking new message either, and he did not mention the departure of Tim Allan.
Here are the key quotes, from the briefing supplied to journalists.
Starmer said that what he was “most angry” with Peter Mandelson about was the way the former ambassador undermined people’s faith in politics. Starmer said:
The thing that makes me most angry is the undermining of the belief that politics can be a force for good and can change lives.
I have been absolutely clear that I regret the decision that I made to appoint Peter Mandelson. And I’ve apologised to the victims which is the right thing to do.
Starmer also told staff that they were united in having “public duty” as their “driving purpose”.
Starmer paid tribute to Morgan McSweeney, saying he would not have been able to change Labour and win the election without his former chief of staff. He said:
I’ve known Morgan for eight years as a colleague and as a friend. We have run up and down every political football pitch that is across the country. We’ve been in every battle that we needed to be in together. Fighting that battle.
We changed the Labour party together. We won a general election together. And none of that would have been possible without Morgan McSweeney.
His dedication, his commitment and his loyalty to our party and our country was second to none. And I want to thank him for his service.
Starmer highlighted reducting child poverty, tackling the cost of living and cutting NHS waiting lists as government achievements of which he was particularly proud. He said:
In just a few months, we start the work of lifting half a million children out of poverty. A massive thing to do in this country because that means that lives will be changed.
For decades to come, children who otherwise wouldn’t have fair chance and fair opportunity. Poverty holds children back like nothing else on earth. And so getting rid of child poverty opens up opportunities for so many.
He said the government would move ahead “with confidence”.
We must prove that politics can be a force for good. I believe it can. I believe it is. We go forward from here. We go with confidence as we continue changing the country.
Here is our story, by Peter Walker and Pippa Crerar, about Tim Allan’s resignation.
Allan's resignation leaves Starmer in need of his 5th No 10 communications chief since election
Keir Starmer now has to find his fifth No 10 communications director since he became prime minister. Before Tim Allan, he also had: Matthew Doyle, who is now a peer, but embroiled in a controversy about his support for a Labour friend who had been charged with having indecent images of young girls; James Lyons, a former journalist who had worked in comms jobs for NHS England and for TikTok; and Stephanie Driver.
The communications director job at No 10 is a political post, held by Labour figure.
Starmer also has a civil service spokespeson who briefs the lobby every day. And last year Starmer appointed the former Sun editor David Dinsmore as head of government communications, another civil service post.
Tim Allan says he is leaving Downing Street 'to allow new No 10 team to be built'
Tim Allan said he was standing down to allow Keir Starmer the opportunity to build a new team.
In a statement, he said:
I have decided to stand down to allow a new No 10 team to be built.
I wish the PM and his team every success.
Tim Allan, who worked as Alastair Campbell’s deputy when Tony Blair was in opposition and after he first became PM, only joined Downing Street in September last year. It was a surprise appointment because Allan had been out of government for more than 25 years, mostly running his own PR and corporate affairs company.
Here is a profile about him that Rowena Mason wrote in September.
Clearly, in his five months in No 10, Allan was unable to achieve any decisive improvement in Keir Starmer’s ratings.
Starmer's communications chief Tim Allan quits No 10
Tim Allan has left his post as director of communications at No 10, Pippa Crerar reports.
EXCL: Tim Allan, Keir Starmer’s director of communications, steps down from Downing Street role. “I have decided to stand down to allow a new No 10 team to be built. I wish the PM and his team every success,” he said.
Tim Allan is Starmer’s fourth director of comms to go since taking office 19 months ago. Suggests the problem isn’t the communications team…
Updated
Robert Jenrick, the former shadow justice secretary who recently defected to Reform UK, told Sky News this morning that he thought the Labour government under Keir Starmer was becoming as dysfunctional as the last Tory government was. He said:
The government appears to be collapsing into chaos. Now the prime minister has no authority. There’s an outright revolt against him from his own members of parliament and the cabinet.
Nothing is going to happen now. Government will be brought to a standstill. I’ve seen this up close in previous Conservative governments. There’ll be no agenda. The issues that people are facing in their daily lives - whether it’s wages, energy bills, crime, immigration, the NHS - are all just going to go into stasis now and the public are going to be let down very badly in the weeks and the months to come.
Emily Thornberry welcomes McSweeney's resignation, saying it creates 'opportunity' for Starmer
Emily Thornberry, the Labour chair of the Commons foreign affairs committee, told the Today programme this morning that she was glad that Morgan McSweeney had resigned. She said:
I’m glad to see that the person who was the architect of Peter Mandelson’s appointment has taken responsibility and has gone … Morgan had become quite a divisive figure.
There were a couple of things that everyone agreed on, one was that he was brilliant, but I think the other one was that people felt he was in the wrong job, so I think it’s right that he’s gone, and I think it’s an opportunity.
Thornberry said that Keir Starmer was a “decent man”, but that he needed to “step up a bit more than he has” and that he neeed a “reset” offering “clear leadership”.
John Swinney, Scotland’s first minister, has said that he thinks Keir Starmer is in a position of “complete weakness” as PM. Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland, Swinney said:
All that’s happened in recent days demonstrates an appalling judgment by the prime minister in appointing Peter Mandelson as the ambassador to the United States.
Although Morgan McSweeney might have resigned, the person that took the decision to appoint Peter Mandelson was the prime minister and his position is a demonstration of his complete weakness as prime minister in the aftermath of this terrible decision.
Labour MP Andy McDonald says it will be 'end' for Starmer if he does not 'own the error he's made'
The Labour MP Andy McDonald told the Today programme this morning that it would be “the end” for Keir Starmer’s leadership if he failed to persuade backbenchers that he will change the way he operates for the better.
McDonald said:
If [Starmer] doesn’t own the error he’s made, and recognise the problem in front of it and articulate it and tell us how he’s going to deal with it, then I’m afraid it is coming to an end – if not today, but certainly in the weeks and months ahead.
He’s got to convince the PLP tonight that he’s got it and a change is necessary.
And the change that he promoted was no other than to purge the left, and it’s got us in this terrible mess that we’re in now.
McDonald said he wanted to see a change to a “more pluralist, democratic socialist agenda”.
McDonald, who served in shadow cabinet under Jeremy Corbyn, has been one of the MPs most critical in public of way Labour has been led by Starmer and Morgan McSweeney. In part he feels aggrieved because he was suspended from the party for five months for using words “the river and the sea” at a pro-Palestine rally, supposedly on the grounds that this was anti-Israel (it has echoes of a chant criticised as antisemitic), even though McDonald specifically said he wanted to see “Israelis and Palestinians, between the river and the sea … [living] in peaceful liberty”. Labour’s decision to suspend McDonald was criticised as excessive, and that is partly why he is so critical of the purges of the left overseen by McSweeney.
Badenoch says Starmer's position now 'untenable'
Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, has said that Keir Starmer should resign given his decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as ambassador to Washington.
In an interview on the Today programme this morning, Badenoch said:
[Claiming] ‘I was badly advised’ is not a good excuse for a leader. Advisers advise, leaders decide. He made a bad decision, he should take responsibility for that … this man said that he was the chief prosecutor for the country, when did he start believing everything that people told him?
Peter Mandelson had been sacked twice for unethical behaviour. [Starmer] is allowing someone else to carry the can for a decision that he chose to make. But the real problem is that this country is not being governed.
Keir Starmer promised a government that would be whiter than white. His position now is untenable, because if he thinks that bad advice is enough for Morgan McSweeney to go, then, yes, I think that makes his position untenable.
Skills minister Jacqui Smith says she is sure Starmer won't resign
In interviews this morning Jacqui Smith, the skills minister, insisted that Keir Starmer will carry on as PM.
She told Times Radio:
I think that the prime minister absolutely is determined to [carry on]. He’s determined and has taken responsibility for the mistakes made in appointing Peter Mandelson.
On the Today programme Nick Robinson told Smith that Pat McFadden, the work and pensions secretary, gave an interview yesterday morning saying it would be pointless for Morgan McSweeeny to resign. Only a few hours later McSweeney did just that. He asked Smith if she could be sure that Starmer too wasn’t about to resign.
Smith replied: “I am sure, yes.”
But when Robinson asked her if Starmer had told her that personally, Smith said she had not spoken to him directly. “I don’t believe he will [resign], I don’t think he should,” she said.
Good morning. One of the staples of political journalism these days (for better or for worse) is the “how damaging?” question. With Westminster preoccupied with the question of how long Keir Starmer can last as prime minister following the resignation of Morgan McSweeney, his chief of staff, yesterday in the light of the Peter Mandelson/Jeffrey Epstein scandal, here is a summary of how long other prime ministers were able to stay on after key advisers quit.
Margaret Thatcher stayed in office, after the resignation of Alan Walters, for one year and one month.
Tony Blair stayed in office, after the resignation of Alastair Campbell, for three years and 10 months.
Gordon Brown stayed in office, after the resignation of Damian McBride, for one year and one month.
Theresa May stayed in office, after the resignation of Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill, for two years and one and a half months.
Boris Johnson stayed in office, after the resignation of Dominic Cummings, for one year and 10 months.
Johnson stayed in office, after the resignation of Munira Mirza, for seven months.
None of these are exact parallels. Most of these advisers were forced out because of pressure from MPs in the PM’s party, at least one (Mirza) was admired and her departure was a shock, but with McSweeney the picture is mixed. Many Labour MPs are glad to see him gone, but others credit him with winning them their seats and worry how the PM will manage without him.
The Cummings precedent is similar in some ways, because Cummings was the mastermind behind Johnson’s 2019 general election victory. McSweeney also gets credit for the Labour’s 2024 landslide. But only last night Prof Jane Green, who runs the British Election Study project, said “the major factors that contributed to the unique seats-votes outcome were outside Labour’s direct control” and the claim that McSweeney’s decision to focus on appealing to former Tories was a crucial factor has been shown by election analysis to be wrong. Besides, unlike Cummings, McSweeney remains hinged.
In some respects McSweeney is more similar to Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill. They were decisive in enabling Theresa May to become PM, just as McSweeney was instrumental in showing Starmer how he could win the Labour leadership. But Timothy and Hill were even more dominant in No 10 than McSweeney ever was. And they were forced out because they wrote a manifesto that lost an election, whereas McSweeney did the opposite.
In short, there is no way of knowing how this will turn out. But previous experience suggests that even a damaging resignation like McSweeney’s doesn’t make the PM’s resignation imminent.
But we have got an inkling of what might happen today. Starmer is due to address Labour MPs this evening and Jacqui Smith, the former Labour home secretary who is now a peer and skills minister, has been giving interviews this morning. Speaking on Times Radio this morning, she said Starmer deserved credit for “taking responsibility” for the Mandelson appointment.
The prime minister is taking responsibility. He took responsibility for the decision that was made about Peter Mandelson, although to be clear here it was of course Peter Mandelson that, in consistent lying and engagement with Jeffrey Epstein, let down the party and the government and the country. And I think that will become clearer as the information around the appointment is put out into the public domain.
According to Sam Blewett and Bethany Dawson in their London Playbook briefing for Politico, Labour First, the right-leaning Labour group that supports Starmer, has been urging its MPs allies to make this point at tonight’s PLP meeting. They say:
One riled MP forwarded Playbook a message the right-leaning Labour First faction has sent to backbenchers it reckons are loyal to Starmer, urging them to speak up in support at the PLP meeting. Talking points include how the PM “accepts his mistakes and apologises,” compared to the carousel of Tory leaders forced from office … and how the government is delivering on “many areas of incremental change.”
Here is our overnight story by Pippa Crerar summing up all yesterday’s developments.
And here is an analysis by Kiran Stacey.
Today we will be focusing mostly on this crisis. Here is the agenda.
Morning: Kemi Badenoch is on a visit in Surrey.
11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
2.30pm: Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
3pm: Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, gives a speech in Birmingham.
6pm: Keir Starmer addresses Labour MPs at a private meeting of the PLP in Westminster.
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