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Keir Starmer has said the ‘whole’ of Labour wants Anas Sarwar to become First Minister a day after the party’s Scottish leader called for the UK prime minister to quit. In a meeting of the political Cabinet without civil servants Starmer insisted his top team was ‘strong and united’ after ministers rallied around him with public messages of support following another day of turmoil. It came after Sarwar became the most senior Labour figure to say the prime minister should step down, citing concern that the ‘distraction’ from Downing Street would harm his party’s chances of unseating the SNP in May’s Holyrood elections. But at the meeting on Tuesday morning, Starmer said that that ‘the whole of the Labour Party wants Anas Sarwar to become First Minister and will fight for a Labour government in Scotland’, according to a readout. He said the government will ‘continue its relentless focus on the priorities of the British people, including tackling the cost of living,’ it added. Speaking to broadcasters earlier, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband conceded the prime minister had faced a ‘moment of peril’ on Monday, when he said Labour MPs ‘looked over the precipice’ and decided to back him. In a defiant message at a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party [PLP] last night, Starmer insisted he was ‘not prepared to walk away’ and said: ‘I’ve won every fight I’ve ever been in.’ The lack of a concerted effort by MPs to depose him suggests the immediate danger has passed, but his authority remains fragile amid simmering discontent following the fallout from the Peter Mandelson scandal. Miliband praised the prime minister’s remarks, saying he had seen ‘the private Keir I know’ who ‘cares passionately about changing this country so it works for ordinary people again [and] has felt slightly constrained’. But he also said the country had not changed ‘enough’ for the better under the Labour government and that ‘the job for all of us is to work out how to be bolder’. ‘What I saw from Keir last night was someone who wants to seize this moment and make it a moment of change, to reconnect with the country,’ Miliband told Sky News. ‘For too long, this country has been run for the wealthy and powerful, and that needs to change.’ The Cabinet minister and former Labour leader dismissed as ‘baloney’ suggestions that his message could be seen as a pitch for the top job ahead of any potential contest to replace Starmer. Asked whether he would rule out running, he said: ‘Yes, yes, I’m not going to run.’ The prime minister will take part in a community visit on Monday in an attempt to show he is focused on easing the cost-of-living burden after chairing a routine meeting of his Cabinet, a day after his top ministers rallied round him. But some discontent remains, with one critic comparing the meeting to the Battle of the Little Bighorn, a Wild West massacre also known as Custer’s Last Stand. But he is expected to continue efforts to shake up his No 10 operation, with the country’s top civil servant Chris Wormald rumoured to be on his way out in the coming days. Starmer’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney and communications chief Tim Allan have already departed as the prime minister seeks to revive his fortunes after a bruising start to 2026. Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said Starmer’s leadership is still in jeopardy despite appearing to have survived the immediate threat to his leadership. She told the Press Association: ‘I’ve got a lot of questions to ask him, but he is in a very dangerous place. The Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said the quiet bit out loud. ‘Labour MPs and the Labour Party have lost confidence in their leader, but the MPs are too scared of losing their jobs, so they’re not going to call an election, and they’ve given him a stay of execution. ‘The sad thing is that the country is suffering from not being governed at all.’ Badenoch demanded the release of the files showing how Peter Mandelson was appointed as US ambassador and his activities in government. She said: ‘Tomorrow at Prime Minister’s Questions the prime minister will need to explain why the documents he promised to release last week have not turned up yet. ‘What are they covering up? The Cabinet Office has told ministers not to release their text messages like Wes Streeting did. I think that there’s something they’re trying to hide and I’m going to get to the bottom of it.’ By Nina Lloyd, Press Association Political Correspondent Press Association: News source: PA Copyright 2026 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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