Cabinet ministers back Keir Starmer after he vows to fight on

Cabinet ministers came out of their meeting backing Sir Keir Starmer, after the Prime Minister vowed to fight on despite mounting calls for him to quit.

Four senior ministers spoke out in support of the beleaguered Labour leader after he told his gathered Cabinet he would continue governing.

However, other Cabinet ministers – including those thought to have told Sir Keir to quit – left the meeting without speaking to reporters, pointing to splits in his top team over his future.

Technology Secretary Liz Kendall, Business Secretary Peter Kyle, Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden and Housing Secretary Steve Reed stood by the Labour leader as they faced the cameras on Downing Street after the Cabinet meeting.

Mr McFadden said nobody publicly challenged Sir Keir to go, and that the Government should “carry on”.

Ms Kendall said: “This Government will do what we were elected to do which is serve the British people. The Prime Minister has my full support in this.

“Let me just say this; there is a process to challenge the leader, nobody has made that challenge and what people would expect me to do is to focus on how we can grow the economy, tackle the cost of living and give them a better life.”

Mr Kyle said Sir Keir was showing “really steadfast leadership,” and Mr Reed said the Prime Minister had his “full support”.

Baroness Jenny Chapman, the international development minister, said she “was not surprised” there was no direct challenge to Sir Keir’s leadership and that the Cabinet was “united”, while Labour Party chairwoman Anna Turley said he had her “full support”.

Defence Secretary John Healey took to X to reiterate his support for the Prime Minister, warning of “more instability is not in Britain’s interest”.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting, seen as a possible successor, ignored journalists shouting questions at him as he left No 10.

At least 79 out of Labour’s 403 MPs have now demanded the Prime Minister stand down after the party’s electoral mauling last week.

Sir Keir has dug in, despite the first ministerial resignation from his Government and a growing number of Labour MPs urging him to set a timetable for his departure.

According to Downing Street, the Prime Minister told his Cabinet: “As I said yesterday, I take responsibility for these election results and I take responsibility for delivering the change we promised.

“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.

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

His woes deepened minutes before the meeting, when housing, communities and local government minister Miatta Fahnbulleh told the Prime Minister “to do the right thing for the country and the party and set a timetable for an orderly transition” as the public had lost trust in him because of issues such as the scrapping of the winter fuel payment.

Ms Fahnbulleh is seen as a close ally of Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, who reportedly privately told Sir Keir to consider stepping down last week.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper are also reportedly among those to have had similar conversations with him.

Earlier on Tuesday, one of Sir Keir’s closest aides declined to say whether he would lead his party into the next general election.

Cabinet minister Darren Jones, the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister, said: “I’m not going to get ahead of any decision the PM may or may not take.”

The cost of long-term government borrowing surged to a fresh 28-year high and the pound weakened on Tuesday morning amid the uncertainty about the Prime Minister’s future, although market moves eased slightly after the public show of support following Cabinet.

Meanwhile, Chancellor Rachel Reeves pulled out of an event she was due to speak at on Tuesday morning in the City of London.