Keir Starmer says he won’t resign after one person told him not to | Politics | News
Sir Keir Starmer and his wife, Lady Victoria (Image: Getty)
Sir Keir Starmer has insisted he will not quit as Prime Minister and that his wife has urged him to carry on. The Labour leader dismissed an upcoming Commons debate and vote to decide whether the Privileges Committee should hold an inquiry into Lord Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to Washington, describing the move as a “stunt”.
He told journalist Cathy Newman in a Sky News interview that he was taking advice from his “rock”, Lady Victoria. Newman asked: “If your wife Vic turns to you and says, you know, enough’s enough, this pressure is intolerable, would you listen to her?” Sir Keir replied: “I always listen to Vic. And, I think she was the one in the first place that basically said, why on earth would you want to go into politics?”
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He added: She’s an absolute rock. and I confide in her all the time, and hers is the best advice. And I’m just thankful that I’ve got her every day.”
Newman asked: “And at the moment, she’s advising you to keep going?”
Sir Keir said: “She is, yes. And we talk everything through, and it’s fantastic. We’ve got also two fantastic kids, a 17-year-old and a 15-year-old. I can’t tell you how much joy and happiness they have … they are my pride and joy every single day.”
Labour MPs are set to vote against holding an inquiry, but Newman asked the Prime Minister why he did not tell his MPs to support the investigation if he believed he would “be proven right”.
Sir Keir said: “It is a stunt. We’ve got huge amounts of transparency going on already. And, frankly, as Prime Minister and as a Government, it is really important I focus on what matters to millions of people across the country.”
The interview was broadcast on The Cathy Newman Show on Sky News.
The Commons vote will take place on Tuesday. Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle allowed a vote following requests from Tory leader Kemi Badenoch and other senior MPs.
The committee was responsible for Boris Johnson’s exit from frontline politics after it investigated him for misleading the House over the “partygate” breaches of Covid-19 laws in Downing Street.
He quit as an MP in 2023 before the committee published a report recommending his suspension.
Tory leader Mrs Badenoch called for Labour MPs to back the referral to the Privileges Committee.
She said: “The Prime Minister misled the House of Commons repeatedly.
“He appointed a national security risk and friend of a convicted paedophile to be our ambassador in Washington, our most sensitive diplomatic post.
“He pretended that full due process was followed for this appointment. It was not.
“He has blamed the appointment on officials when the blame can only be placed at his own door.”
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said Labour MPs must be given a free vote on Tuesday.
“Even Boris Johnson didn’t block his MPs voting for scrutiny,” he said.
“If Keir Starmer has misled the House and the public, he must be held to the same standard that we should expect of any Prime Minister.”
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said: “There’s no doubt he’s misled Parliament more than once and not just on this issue, on others as well.
“I suspect what will happen is the Labour MPs will be three-line whipped to support the Government, a handful will abstain, and we’ll just move on from here.
“Starmer’s future will be decided by the elections on May 7, and if Reform do as well as I think we can in the old Labour areas, that will be the end of him.”
