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Cabinet rallies around embattled PM, who says he is not prepared ‘to walk away’ despite facing public calls to quit – after communications director Tim Allan steps down
David Maddox, Kate Devlin & Millie CookeMonday 09 February 2026 21:40 GMT- Bookmark
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Sir Keir Starmer is clinging on to power with the support of key cabinet figures – even after being rocked by the departure of a second key aide, and a public demand for his resignation from Labour’s own leader in Scotland.
The prime minister was supported by colleagues, including his former deputy Angela Rayner, as the previously loyal Anas Sarwar urged him to step down over the Mandelson-Epstein scandal, saying he had made “too many mistakes”.
On a day of drama, the PM was also hit by the resignation of Downing Street director of communications Tim Allan, less than 24 hours after chief of staff Morgan McSweeney resigned.
But Sir Keir insisted: “I am going nowhere.”
open image in galleryAnas Sarwar appeared at a press conference in front of a backdrop that bore no mention of Labour (PA)Later, a “determined” Sir Keir told Labour MPs and peers he was not prepared to “walk away” or plunge the country “into chaos” as other prime ministers had done.
But he was in effect put on notice when health secretary Wes Streeting, seen by many as angling for Sir Keir’s job, published communications between himself and Mr Mandelson containing severe criticism of Sir Keir’s economic and Middle East policies.
The publication broke collective responsibility and would normally lead to a sacking, but Mr Streeting justified it by saying it was necessary to deal with with “smears” that had been made about his relationship with the disgraced former Labour peer.
In front of a packed meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party, Sir Keir also vowed that as long as he had “breath in my body” he would fight against Nigel Farage on behalf of the country, adding that he had “won every fight I’ve ever been in”.
He 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.”
But he is understood to have faced a number of critical questions from MPs, including in relation to another former director of communications, Matthew Doyle, whom Sir Keir elevated to the House of Lords, and Mr Doyle’s links to a convicted sex offender.
Leading pollsters suggested that Sir Keir’s departure had now become “inevitable”.
It all appeared to be unravelling after the controversial chief of staff, Mr McSweeney, stepped down on Sunday over his advice to appoint Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the United States despite Mr Mandelson’s previous association with the convicted paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Mr Sarwar, whose Scottish Labour Party is trailing both Reform and the SNP ahead of crucial Holyrood elections in May, held a press conference to say he believed that Sir Keir should now also step down.
He said he was calling for his “friend” to resign but that he was doing so “with a heavy heart”.
“The distraction needs to end, and the leadership in Downing Street has to change,” he told reporters. “We cannot allow the failures at the heart of Downing Street to mean the failures continue here in Scotland, because the election in May is not without consequence for the lives of Scots.”
But almost as soon as he had spoken, Mr Streeting – who was once accused by Downing Street officials of plotting against the PM – said: “Give Keir a chance.”
Chancellor Rachel Reeves posted: “With Keir as our Prime Minister we are turning the country around.”
open image in galleryTim Allan has quit as Downing Street director of communications (BBC)Deputy prime minister David Lammy added: “Keir Starmer won a massive mandate 18 months ago, for five years to deliver on Labour’s manifesto that we all stood on.”
As ministers lined up to pledge loyalty, former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, touted by some as another possible candidate to replace Sir Keir, also appealed for calm.
She said: “I urge all my colleagues to come together, remember our values and put them into practice as a team. The prime minister has my full support in leading us to that end.”
Labour grandee Alan Johnson warned that ditching the prime minister would “turn Labour and the country into an international laughing stock”.
But amid the febrile atmosphere in Westminster, one Labour MP said: “It’s over. It is just a matter of when, not if.”
A number of MPs on the Labour left have already described Sir Keir’s position as “untenable”, and there were plans to heckle the prime minister at the Parliamentary Labour Party event on Monday evening.
Meanwhile, pollster Professor Sir John Curtice said: “We are at the stage where unplanned events could result in Keir Starmer going. It could be MPs going to the chief whip or, like Boris Johnson at the end, one member of cabinet resigning, and that starts to precipitate.”
He suggested that one thing helping Sir Keir “is that there is no clear successor”.
open image in galleryStarmer addressed the parliamentary Labour party on Monday night (PA)Prof Curtice noted that the ongoing HMRC investigation into Ms Rayner’s tax affairs would make it difficult for her to return immediately to government, while Mr Streeting has himself been damaged by the Mandelson scandal, and home secretary Shabana Mahmood “probably can’t even get the support of the 80 MPs to fight the contest”.
He speculated that Labour could appoint a former leader, energy secretary Ed Miliband, because of the lack of options.
Meanwhile, another pollster, Conservative peer Robert Hayward, said: “I’m becoming ever more convinced that a change is inevitable, but the Labour Party has got to the ‘we might as well try something else’ stage, as the Conservative Party did.”
A Downing Street spokesperson said: “Keir Starmer is one of only four Labour leaders ever to have won a general election. He has a clear five-year mandate from the British people to deliver change, and that is what he will do.”
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Keir StarmerScottish LabourAnas SarwarAngela RaynerWes StreetingPrime MinisterMorgan McSweeneyPeter MandelsonJoin our commenting forum
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