Downing Street sources characterised the Prime Minister as ‘absolutely determined’.
Sir Keir Starmer told Labour MPs he had “won every fight I’ve ever been in” as he vowed not to “walk away” amid calls for him to resign.
The Prime Minister addressed a packed meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) in Westminster on Monday in the wake of Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar’s call for him to step down.
But Sir Keir, flanked by his Cabinet, struck a defiant note, telling MPs: “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.”
Arguing he had changed the Crown Prosecution Service so it “better served victims of violence against women and girls” and changed the Labour Party so it could win an election, he said: “I have won every fight I’ve ever been in.”
Downing Street sources characterised the Prime Minister as “absolutely determined” as he appeared before MPs hours after Mr Sarwar said he should quit.
But they added he acknowledged his operation had not been “open or inclusive enough”, and pledged to give more weight to the views of the PLP in a meeting described by MPs present as broadly positive towards Sir Keir.
