Starmer says he's going nowhere - after arriving at crunch meeting with 'face like thunder'

Sir Keir Starmer will chair a cabinet session today after earning a lifeline from Labour MPs during a crunch meeting in which he declared: "I'm not prepared to walk away."

The prime minister started the week amid the biggest crisis of his premiership amid the fallout from his appointment of Lord Mandelson as his US ambassador, as more revelations about the disgraced peer's relationship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein are revealed.

There have been growing doubts since last week about whether the PM would stay in post - and for how long.

But speaking to a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party on Monday night, just hours after Labour's leader in Scotland demanded he quit, Sir Keir came out fighting.

Having arrived with a "face like thunder", Sky's chief political correspondent Jon Craig said the prime minister got a "very good reception" from his MPs as he vowed to take on his critics and opposition parties.

"I have had my 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," Sir Keir said.

"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."

Sir Keir told MPs he had "won every fight I've ever been in", from changing the Crown Prosecution Service "so it better served victims of violence against women and girls", to changing the Labour Party so it could win an election.

"We won with a landslide majority. Every fight I've been in, I have won," he said.

PM's team hit back at resignation call

Earlier on Monday, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar became the most senior party figure to call for Sir Keir to go.

He told a news conference "failures at the heart of Downing Street" were affecting Scotland.

"That's why the distraction needs to end. And the leadership in Downing Street has to change," Mr Sarwar said.

But Sir Keir's cabinet rallied around the prime minister, all sharing messages of support for him ahead of their regular weekly meeting today.

Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy said Labour "should let nothing distract us from our mission to change Britain, and we support the prime minister in doing that".

Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: "With Keir as our prime minister we are turning the country around."

Health Secretary Wes Streeting - often viewed as a potential leadership challenger - told Sky News he backed Sir Keir, saying the government was a "team".

Outside the cabinet, former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner - another mooted rival - also backed the PM.

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Earlier on Monday, Downing Street director of communications Tim Allan - Sir Keir's fourth since entering Number 10 - resigned from his role, saying he wanted to "allow a new Number 10 team to be built".

Mr Allan was the second senior departure in less than 24 hours, after the prime minister's chief of staff Morgan McSweeney resigned on Sunday afternoon.

Mr McSweeney said he was resigning to "take full responsibility" for advising Sir Keir to appoint Lord Mandelson as UK ambassador to the US.

The prime minister told Labour MPs he took full responsibility for the "wrong" decision to appoint Lord Mandelson.

Sir Keir praised Mr McSweeney to Number 10 staff on Monday morning, saying the two of them had changed the Labour Party and won a general election together.

"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," Sir Keir said.

(c) Sky News 2026: Starmer says he's going nowhere - after arriving at crunch meeting with 'face like thunder'