Starmer’s office says he will not resign

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is not resigning and will be “concentrating on the job in hand”, his office at 10 Downing Street has said.

The prime minister’s official spokesman said Starmer’s mood this morning was “upbeat” and “confident” as he gave an address to No 10 staff amid the fallout over the Peter Mandelson scandal.

Downing Street communications chief Tim Allan has announced he will stand down to allow “a new No 10 team to be built” after chief of staff Morgan McSweeney quit on Sunday.

Asked if Starmer was going to resign today, the prime minister’s official spokesman said: “No.”

He added: “The prime minister is concentrating on the job in hand. He is getting on with the job of delivering change across the country.”

Asked about reports going into the weekend that Starmer had been remorseful and wavering over his political future, he said: “That is not the prime minister who appeared in front of staff this morning.

“It is very clear that he remains determined to tackle the job in hand.”

The prime minister is confident he has the unanimous support of the Cabinet, the spokesman said.

Starmer told staff at Downing Street on Monday morning that they must “go forward from here” and prove that politics can be a “force for good.”

The prime minister is expected to address a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) amid anger over his appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the United States despite knowing that the peer’s links with Jeffrey Epstein continued after the financier’s conviction for child sex offences.