Keir Starmer will still be British Prime Minister beyond the current Parliament, Downing Street has insisted.
The Labour leader has faced calls to resign amid the fallout from the Peter Mandelson vetting scandal, and Cabinet divisions are said to have emerged over his handling of the process, including his decision to sack Foreign Office chief Olly Robbins.
Dismissing suggestions that Starmer is planning to set out when he will step down, the British Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “He’s very focused on the job.
“I refer you back to his previous language that he will continue to lead the Government throughout this Parliament and beyond.
“He’s got a huge amount of work to do. We’re in the middle of a global conflict, the like of which we’ve not seen for years.”
The British Prime Minister has said he has been exonerated over accusations he misled MPs by evidence from Olly Robbins – the former Foreign Office chief he sacked last week, and has accused opponents of making politically motivated allegations.
Adding to the pressure on Thursday, the leader of a prominent group of backbenchers said Starmer made the “biggest mistake of his life” by appointing Mandelson as British ambassador to the US.
Jo White, who chairs the Red Wall group of Labour MPs, said the British Government must “cleanse” itself of the problems that have emerged from the vetting scandal.
Starmer was asked whether he had considered resigning during a visit to Newcastle.
He said: “Last week, my political opponents were saying that there’s no way a civil servant wouldn’t have told me about the outcome of a developed vetting security exercise.
“Turns out my political opponents were completely wrong about that.
“Then they said that I was dishonest.
“It turns out they were completely wrong about that.
“They are now putting any allegation they can and I will tell you for why – they are opposed politically to what this Government is trying to achieve.”
World
Morgan McSweeney denies bullying civil servants into appointing Peter Mandelson
It come as Starmer former chief of staff Morgan McSweeney denied claims he bullied civil servants into appointing Mandelson.
Before his appearance at the Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday, the political strategist told a security forum in Kyiv: “I find it strange reading about a character with the same name as mine sometimes.
“I don’t recognise that character,” he said, as first reported by The Times.
