Starmer defies calls to quit

UK PM says he's getting on with governing

LONDON:

Prime Minister Keir Starmer defied calls to resign on Tuesday, telling ministers he would get on with governing despite a "destabilising" 48 hours of growing calls to set out a timetable for his departure after a drubbing in local elections.

At a cabinet meeting, Starmer, in the top job for less than two years, repeated that, while he took responsibility for one of his Labour Party's worst election defeats, there had been no official move to trigger a leadership contest. Several loyal ministers expressed their support for him.

It was the latest pledge from Starmer to press on with a premiership dogged by scandal and policy U-turns since he won a large majority at a national election in 2024, and has left the leader and Labour rebels in a stalemate.

Support in the wider Labour Party has also started to ebb away. Jess Phillips, a well-known Labour lawmaker and women's rights campaigner, became one of four junior ministers to resign on Tuesday, joining more than 80 lawmakers who have publicly called on Starmer to set a timetable for leaving office.

All eyes were on a clutch of senior party figures, such as health minister Wes Streeting, who has made little secret of his ambition to become prime minister one day, to see whether they would move to challenge Starmer directly.

In a nod to a surge in borrowing costs to their highest in nearly 30 years over fears of another bout of political instability in Britain, Starmer said 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," Starmer told his cabinet, according to his Downing Street office.

"The country expects us to get on with governing. That is what I am doing and what we must do as a cabinet."

Leaving Downing Street, several senior ministers offered Starmer their support, with pensions minister Pat McFadden telling reporters that no one had challenged the prime minister at cabinet.

Speaking to reporters outside Starmer's office later on Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy said the British leader had his full support.

"It's been 24 hours now and nobody has come forward to put themselves forward in the processes that exist in the party," he said. "No one seems to have the names to stand up against Keir Starmer, and for those who are suggesting that he should stand down, they should say which candidate would be better."