British Prime Minister Keir Starmer yesterday rejected the idea that he had lost authority in his role, and said he would fight to keep his job, adding that anyone who wanted to replace him would have to deal with the same financial constraints.
The comments come a day after defence minister John Healey delivered a fresh blow to the prime minister’s already weakened leadership by quitting and accusing Starmer of being unable to commit the resources needed to keep the country safe, in a dig at the authority the PM has over his ministers.
“I’m not going to walk away,” Starmer told the BBC, making his first public comments since Healey’s shock resignation.
With rivals expected to launch a contest to replace him in the coming weeks or months, Starmer said he would fight any challenge to his role.
“Let me just be clear with you, that’s not about personal vanity, it’s not about stubbornness, it’s out of a very deep sense of duty. I was elected to serve this country, notwithstanding the difficult circumstances. That is what I am doing,” he said.
Starmer rejected Healey’s criticism, saying defence and security were his top priorities and would remain so every time the government had to make spending decisions in the future.
He said he had already made “hard-edged” choices to cut other departments’ budgets in order to put more money towards defence investment.
“Whoever is prime minister is going to face the same prevailing winds as I am facing. None of that is going to change,” Starmer said.
Asked if he wanted to lead Labour into the next election, he said that was what he wanted to do, but acknowledged: “I need to turn things around.”
He said he did not want to “plunge” the country into the “chaos” of a leadership election but added: “If it does happen, I will fight.”
He pointed to cuts to overseas aid as evidence that he was able to make difficult decisions to increase spending on defence.
Angela Eagle appointed as UK security minister
Angela Eagle has been appointed Britain’s security minister, the government said yesterday, after her predecessor Dan Jarvis was named defence minister of the country on Thursday.
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