LIVE: Starmer vows he will prove doubters wrong in speech to save job

Sir Keir Starmer today pleaded with mutinous Labour MPs not to oust him from Downing Street, warning it could plunge the UK into chaos.

In response to one question, Sir Keir says:

The question of whether a government constantly changes its leadership, the question whether that damages the country is not an academic question, it’s not something that you study at university and go through various theories.

We tested it. We tested it to destruction under the last government, and it inflicted huge damage on this country.

A Labour government will never be forgiven if we repeat that and inflict that on the country. And that’s what I mean when I say I’m not going to plunge this country into chaos.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has delivered her verdict on Sir Keir’s speech and says the Prime Minister is ‘floundering’.

Ms Badenoch says the Prime Minister and possible leadership contenders do not have a ‘vision’ of how to run the country.

See her post here on X:

Backbench Labour MPs have spoken out in support of Sir Keir Starmer following his speech on the Labour Party’s future, saying he has risen to the challenge.

Jack Abbott, Labour MP for Ipswich, told BBC News

We cannot fall back into this sort of inward looking fight, and I think he was right to look to the country … and speak to the country, as well as to the party.

David Pinto-Duschinsky, Labour MP for Hendon, told Sky News:

I think what we saw today was a Prime Minister rising to the occasion. You heard and saw humility, I think you saw him take responsibility, but you also heard and saw the passion and the complete determination and not just to make incremental change, but to make real substantive, major, radical change.

In a post on X, Labour MP for Gedling, Michael Payne, said Sir Keir ‘understands the scale of the challenge and the urgency to act’.

Similarly, Labour MP for Macclesfield, Tim Roca wrote on X:

Clear the PM gets the scale of the challenge, and the impatience people feel for change and bold action. Good to hear that urgency today.

Laboutr MP Karl Turner has said his colleagues are being briefed to say changing Sir Keir Starmer as Labour leader will mean a sudden general election is ‘inevitable’.

The Prime Minister said Labour would ‘not be forgiven’ for plunging the country into chaos with a change of leadership.

In a statement on X, Turner said:

The head of a union affiliated to Labour has reiterated her call for Sir Keir Starmer to resign.

Transport Salaried Staffs Association general secretary Maryam Eslamdoust said:

No amount of spin or resets can hide the truth: the public rejected Starmer at the ballot box on Thursday. We cannot keep sailing towards defeat. Either we change leader and direction now and begin rebuilding trust, or we sink with this failing project.

She continued:

MPs backing Starmer should think carefully about their own seats because voters already have. The trade unions cannot allow the ship to sink with its failed captain.

The country is crying out for real change, not just another reset speech. Keir Starmer must resign now, and a leadership contest must begin immediately with the widest possible field of candidates.

Daily Mail columnist Dan Hodges says Sir Keir Starmer’s make-or-break speech in Downing Street went ‘terribly’.

Dan says he was told the Cabinet were not asked to attend the speech and that one has since responded to say his remarks weren’t ‘radical enough’.

In a later post on X, Dan adds: ‘Joking aside, it genuinely does look as if the overnight trail really was the bulk of the speech. Literally nothing of substance beyond it. Some more apprenticeships. An EU student programme. Rehash of British Steel policy. Some Labour MPs were wondering if he’d have a rabbit.’

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has urged the Prime Minister to drop his red lines on Europe.

Responding to Sir Keir Starmer’s speech, Sir Ed said:

Voters sent Keir Starmer a clear message that Britain needs a bold new direction, but he keeps delivering the same old speech.

If the Government wants to regain the trust of the British people, they have to end the cost-of-living crisis.

There is no way of doing that without getting rid of Keir Starmer’s red lines on Europe and fixing the botched Brexit deal, including a customs union. It’s really that simple.

A Labour MP has called on Sir Keir Starmer to set out when he will leave Downing Street in a statement released during the Prime Minister’s speech.

David Smith, who represents North Northumberland, said if Labour must change its approach to make good on promises to tackle the cost of living and deal with immigration fairly.

See his statement below:

Sir Keir Starmer says he had spoken to Angela Rayner but sidestepped a question of whether she had ruled out ever mounting a leadership challenge against him.

He says:

I’m afraid I’m going to disappoint you … I spoke to Angela many, many times, by the way, in the last few weeks, we are friends.

We get on very well, but I’m not going to go through each and everything that we discussed in those calls.

He also said he had spoken to former Welsh Labour leader Eluned Morgan, who stood down after losing her seat, and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar since the local elections.

Sir Keir Starmer said he wanted to ‘take a big leap forward’ at the upcoming EU-UK summit, but declined to say whether Labour’s next manifesto would commit to seeking membership of the single market or customs union.

Asked if he would rule out including single market or customs union membership in the party’s next manifesto, Sir Keir said:

What I want to do is take a big leap forward with the EU-UK summit this year and take us closer, both on trade, the economy, defence and security. And that will then be a platform on which we can build as we go forward.

And as we do that, I strongly believe we’ve got to turn our back on the arguments of the past, not open old grievances, but look forward together to how we make this country stronger, how we make this country fairer. And so that’s the approach that I will take.

Sir Keir Starmer has said he will not walk away if a leadership competition is launched.

Asked directly if he would fight for his position, the Prime Minister told reporters: ‘I’m not going to walk away.’

Questioned on whether he thought the nation was ‘ungovernable’, he added: 

I don’t think Britain is ungovernable. On the contrary, one of the things that I draw great strength from is all the millions of people who care passionately about their place, their community, where they live, where they work.

The millions of people who give hours and hours and hours of their time for their community, volunteering, helping others, running teams, you name it. That is a great strength of our country.

I draw strength from the fact that we are a reasonable, tolerant, decent country, a live and let live country, a diverse country. That is the real Britain.

Taking questions from journalists, Sir Keir Starmer admitted he has ‘doubters’ in his own party but has vowed to prove them wrong.

Asked about Labour MPs calling for him to step down following the local election results, Sir Keir says:

I’m not going to shy away from the fact that I’ve got some doubters, including in my own party – and I’m not going to shy away from the fact that I have to prove them wrong, and I will.

I had my doubters when I took on the Labour Party. I had my doubters who said we couldn’t change this party and make it capable of winning an election. And I proved them wrong.

And when we did that, I had my doubters, who said, ‘you can’t lead us to a general election victory after the loss in 2019, it was so bad. It’s not possible’ – and I proved them wrong. I’m going to prove them wrong again here.