Sir Keir Starmer has defiantly vowed to lead Labour into the next general election, after his party was mired in a leadership and briefing scandal.
The prime minister criticised the speculation over his future as time-wasting, and stressed that his focus remained on reducing the cost of living crisis and helping British families.
Asked if he would lead Labour into the next election, he told The Mirror: “Yes, I will. Let me be really clear – every minute that’s not spent talking about and dealing with the cost of living is a minute wasted of the political work of this Government.
“That’s my response to last week. I remain utterly focused on what matters to me most, which is bearing down on the cost of living and making people feel better off.”
A bitter briefing war which broke out last Tuesday night saw allies of the prime minister insist he was willing to fight off any challenges to his leadership.
Health secretary Wes Streeting was singled out as a challenger, amid warnings that toppling the Prime Minister would result in market chaos.
It comes as the Government is grappling with its own Labour MPs, who are worried about the approach of ministers to a host of issues, and the party’s current polling.
The public infighting and reports of a “toxic” culture within Downing Street also came ahead of Shabana Mahmood’s asylum crackdown on Monday, and a tricky Budget to be announced by Rachel Reeves next week.
On Sunday, the home secretary said that the anonymous briefings were “embarrassing” for all involved.
Asked if the Prime Minister needed to think again about his leadership, she said: “No. Keir Starmer is our Prime Minister. We won an election just under a year and a half or so ago, when people thought that we would not win an election for maybe a generation or more.
“I have no time for these things that people say or brief off the record, or any of this, frankly, Westminster bubble tittle-tattle.”
Ms Mahmood added: “If people have things to say, they should have the courage of their convictions and say so publicly, and that is not what is happening.
“I think what happened at the beginning of this week was, with all of those anonymous briefings, unedifying and deeply embarrassing for everyone concerned.”
During Starmer’s interview with The Mirror, he insisted Labour wasn’t trying to outdo Nigel Farage’s “toxic” stance on immigration, as Mahmood faces growing backlash from backbenchers.
“Reform do not have any answers to the question, to the challenges this country faces,” he said. “They feed off grievance. They want problems to persist, and they are driven by a toxic division that will tear our country apart. That’s why I’m really clear, there are two paths for our country.
Defending the plans, he said: “Patriotic national renewal, with a Labour Party and a Labour Government is bearing down on the cost of living and actually taking the measures that are going to change the lives of millions of families, doing the hard yards of governing, or the toxic division of Reform and their like.
“That path is built on grievance, they don’t have any serious answers, and it’s absolutely important we expose them for what they are, which is peddlers of snake oil.”
