ITV’s Robert Peston went next. He said he had spoken the weekend speaking to Labour MPs. ministers and most of them said he was no longer the best person for the job.
Labour supports in the room protested. And Starmer himself said “no, no no”.
Peston went on to ask why people should believe he could deliver more than incremental change.
Starmer said he would prove his doubters wrong.
double quotation mark I’m not going to shy away from the fact that I’ve got some doubters. including my own party.
And I’m not going to shy away from the fact that I have to prove them wrong. And I will.
I had my doubters when I took on the Labour Party. I had my doubters who said we couldn’t change this party and make it capable of winning an election. And I proved them wrong.
According to Sky News, there are now 36 Labour MPs who have publicly called for Keir Starmer to stand down.
David Smith, the Labour MP for North Northumberland, was not impressed by Keir Starmer’s speech. As soon as it was over, he put issued a statement on social media saying that Starmer should set a timetable for his departure. that the government neeed “to act faster, and be more radical”.
North Northumberland is a new constituency that is mostly made up of the old Berwick-upon-Tweed seat. which the Tories won in 2019 with a majority of almost 15,000.
Q: [From Jack Elsom from the Sun] When you spoke to Angela Rayner. did she rule out launching a leadership challenge against you? And do you think there would have to be an election if Labour elected a new leader?
Starmer said he would not discuss his conversations with Rayner.
And, on an election, Starmer said:
double quotation mark On this question of chaos, look, the question whether if a government constantly changes its leadership, the question whether that damages the country is not an academic question, it’s not something that you study at university. go through various theories. We tested it. We tested it to destruction under the last government and inflicted huge damage on this country.
A Labour government will never be forgiven if we repeat that and inflict that on the country.
And that’s what I mean when I say I’m not going to plunge this country into chaos.
Q: [From Sophie Huskisson from the Mirror] Have you spoken to Anas Sarwar and Eluned Morgan since the elections? And do you agree with Angela Rayner that this is Labour’s last chance to turn things round?
Starmer said he had spoken to Sarwar and Morgan.
And he said he had spoken to Rayner, so he knew exactly what her thinking was.
Q: [From Aubrey Allegretti from the Times] Do you agree with what Peter Kyle said this morning about how a byelection for Andy Burnham,. a mayoral election in Greater Manchester, would be a distraction of Labour. Could Labour afford to let them go ahead?
Starmer said he had already answered a question about this.
double quotation mark Now, the first person I worked for when I came to Parliament was Andy. He wanted me and his team in the shadow Home Office. I wanted to be in his team in the shadow Home Office. So we work very well together. We’ll continue to work very well together. If the issue arises, it’ll be a matter for the NEC [Labour’s national executive committee] to decide.
Q: [From the FT’s Jim Pickard] If you stick to your manifesto red lines on the single market. the customs union, you won’t be able to take the UK to the heart of Europe. Would you rule out single market or customs union membership in Labour’s next manifesto.
Starmer said he would be pushing for “ a big leap forward” in relations with the EU at the summit coming later this year.
UPDATE: Starmer said:
double quotation mark What I want to do is take a big leap forward with the EU-UK summit this year. take us closer, both on trade, the economy, defence and security.
And that will then be a platform on which we can build as we go forward.
And as we do that, I strongly believe we’ve got to turn our back on the arguments of the past, not open old grievances,. look forward together to how we make this country stronger, how we make this country fairer.
And so that’s the approach that I will take.
Q: [From the Guardian’s Pippa Crerar] If someone launches a leadership challenge against you, will you fight it? And do you think Britain is now ungovernable?
Starmer said yes, and no.
On the first question, he won’t walk away from a challenge, he said
And, on whether Britain is becoming ungovernable, he said:
double quotation mark I don’t think Britain is ungovernable. On the contrary, one of the things that I draw great strength from is [the] millions of people who care passionately about their place, their community, where they live, where they are the millions of people who give hours. hours and hours at that time for that community, volunteering, helping others, running teams, you name it. That is a great strength of our country.
I draw strength from the fact that we are a reasonable, tolerant, decent country, a live. let live country, a diverse country that is the real Britain. That’s not an ungovernable Britain. That is the Britain that I will fight for, particularly in light of the opponents.
Q: [From Katherine Forster from GB News] Many working class people voted for Brexit. So why are you promising them more Europe?
Starmer said it was important to explain that the promises made at the time of Brexit have not been kept.
double quotation mark The reason I reminded everyone what Nigel Farage said is because that was the promise he put to the country, that we’d be stronger, we’d be richer, we’d have lots of money for the NHS, immigration would come down. it all proved to be false.
And he doesn’t take any responsibility.
He’s not going back to the country now saying it was a good thing you’ve all benefited. He’ll talk about almost anything else apart from the consequences of the one thing that he delivered for the country. Brexit.
ITV’s Robert Peston went next. He said he had spoken the weekend speaking to Labour MPs. ministers and most of them said he was no longer the best person for the job.
Labour supports in the room protested. And Starmer himself said “no, no no”.
Peston went on to ask why people should believe he could deliver more than incremental change.
Starmer said he would prove his doubters wrong.
double quotation mark I’m not going to shy away from the fact that I’ve got some doubters. including my own party.
And I’m not going to shy away from the fact that I have to prove them wrong. And I will.
I had my doubters when I took on the Labour Party. I had my doubters who said we couldn’t change this party and make it capable of winning an election. And I proved them wrong.
Q: [From Sky’s Beth Rigby] Have you considered standing down since the election results, and if not, why not?
Starmer said “the chaos of constantly changing leaders” under the Tories cost the country a “huge amount”. Working people paid the price, he said. He went on:
double quotation mark Yes, I acknowledge the frustration. Yes, I acknowledge the results are tough. Yes, I acknowledge that we’ve lost brilliant representatives across the United Kingdom. I have a responsibility for that.
But I also have a responsibility to deliver the change that we were elected. that we promised this country, and I’ll deliver on that.
After the speech, Starmer took questions.
Q: [From the BBC’s Chris Mason] Will this speech be enough to get Labour MPs to back you? And will you continue to block Andy Burnham returning to the Commons.
Starmer said this is not the first time the UK has faced challenges. He repeated the point about wanting to change the status quo.
On Burnham, he said:
double quotation mark In relation to Andy Burnham, obviously, any future decision is for the NEC. he’s doing a great job as mayor in Manchester and I actually work really well with Andy.
(That was not a no,. it sounded as if Starmer was certainly not keen on letting Burnham fight a byelection.)
Starmer gave two examples of this: Northern Powerhouse Rail, and the response to the Manchester syngague attack.
Starmer ended his speech by saying the government would ban “far-right agitators from travelling to Britain” for a march planned for this Saturday by the far right.
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