Chancellor Rachel Reeves has pulled out of an event in the City of London on Tuesday morning, the Treasury has confirmed amid speculation about Sir Keir Starmer’s future.
Ms Reeves was due to take part in a “fireside chat” with the Lady Mayor of London at the City’s global risks summit after attending Cabinet.
Her place will now be taken by Treasury minister Lucy Rigby.
The Chancellor was seen arriving in Downing Street by car and walking into Number 11 early on Tuesday.
She did not respond to questions from reporters as she entered the building.
The PM is defying mounting calls for him to quit, telling a meeting of his Cabinet that the country “expects us to get on with governing” and “that is what I am doing”.
His woes deepened on Tuesday morning as the first minister resigned from his Government urging him to go, and as the number of Labour MPs telling him to set out a timetable for his departure grew to 75.
On Tuesday, Sir Keir Starmer told his Cabinet that a leadership challenge “has not been triggered” and “the country expects us to get on with governing”.
In a statement released by Downing Street, the Prime Minister told a meeting of the Cabinet: “As I said yesterday, I take responsibility for these election results and I take responsibility for delivering the change we promised.
“The past 48 hours have been destabilising for government and that has a real economic cost for our country and for families.
“The Labour Party has a process for challenging a leader and that has not been triggered.
“The country expects us to get on with governing. That is what I am doing and what we must do as a Cabinet.”
The meeting was expected to be fraught, with some ministers said to be joining calls for the Prime Minister to go.
Earlier, housing, communities and local government minister Miatta Fahnbulleh told the Prime Minister “to do the right thing for the country and the party and set a timetable for an orderly transition” as the public had lost trust in him because of issues such as the scrapping of the winter fuel payment.
Ms Fahnbulleh is seen as a close ally of Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, who reportedly privately told Sir Keir to consider stepping down last week.
Will Starmer resign? Timeline of PM’s tumultuous time at No 10 since 2024 election
Sir Rod Stewart ‘so proud’ of wife Penny Lancaster receiving freedom of London
Sadiq Khan accuses Trump of having ‘absurd obsession’ with him
Georgia mayor fires town’s entire police force after they upset his wife
The timing of the coup against Starmer helps one candidate – Wes Streeting
The Latest: Starmer fights for political survival as calls for his resignation grow in UK
