Ally Refuses To Say If Starmer Will Fight To Stay In No.10

A top ally to Keir Starmer dodged questions over whether the prime minister intends to stand down as calls for him to resign mount.

The PM insisted in his make-or-break speech on Monday that he would prove his doubters “wrong”.

However, more than 70 MPs have since broken rank to urge him to quit following Labour’s devastating results in the local elections.

Reports that even senior cabinet ministers, including home secretary Shabana Mahmood, have told the PM to plan his departure emerged last night.

On Tuesday morning, chief secretary to the prime minister Darren Jones avoided direct questions about Starmer’s plans to stay in post.

He told Times Radio: “The prime minister is talking to colleagues, obviously a number of them have said publicly yesterday that they want him to take a particular course of action.

“As any leader would, he’s talking and listening to those colleagues. I can’t get ahead of what the prime minister may or may not decide.”

Presenter Stig Abell asked: “So actually he’s considering setting out a timetable to step down before the next election?”

Jones replied: “It’s for the prime minister to decide what he may or may not want to do in the future.”

“It’s right for any leader to listen to members of their team if they want to express their views on these issues. And it’s right that he’s listening to them. I think it’d be worse if he wasn’t,” he added.

Asked if Starmer’s job is “up for grabs”, the minister said: “Look, in politics, it always is.

“But as I say, it’s for the prime minister to decide one way or another about what he wants to do in the future.

“He was very clear with us yesterday what he thought the right way through was. And no doubt he’ll continue to be talking to colleagues today.”

But he insisted the King’s Speech, which marks the start of a new parliamentary term, will still go ahead on Wednesday.

Jones also claimed the “vast majority” of the Parliamentary Labour Party still wants to get on with the job.

In a jibe to those championing Starmer’s rivals, he added: “It’s a gruelling job.

“I think anybody who thinks that they can just walk into the job of prime minister and like the second coming of the Messiah, fix all of our problems probably hasn’t really thought carefully enough about how difficult it is.”

The minister also told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge that he’s “a bit sad” about the state of the party.

Jones added: “I’m a bit sad, to be honest Sophy, because I’m sad that we’re in this situation in the first place.

“I’m sad about the election results last Thursday when we lost many brilliant colleagues across the country, some of whom had served their local communities for many decades.

“So I’m sad that my team, my party, has ended up with a poor set of results.

“And I’m sad that a number of colleagues yesterday, have felt the need to have this conversation in public as opposed to internally within the party.

“So I am a bit sad about that, to be honest, but I’m also optimistic about the future because we’ve only been in government now for less than two years.”

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