Starmer clings on after Cabinet is ordered to back him

Sir Keir Starmer has clung on to his premiership after his whole Cabinet were strong-armed into backing his leadership. Daily Telegraph 09/02/26 Every member of Sir Keir’s top team publicly voiced their support within just over an hour of Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, calling for Sir Keir to resign.

Ministers were ordered by Downing Street to tweet their support for Sir Keir in an attempt to quell the Labour rebellion, The Telegraph understands. Special advisers in No 10, who are directly appointed by the Prime Minister, called ministers this afternoon to ask them to tweet their support. Cabinet members were the first to tweet their support, at the same time as Mr Sarwar was delivering a speech calling for Sir Keir’s departure. Posts endorsing the Prime Minister from more junior ministers and backbenchers came later. Sir Keir will attempt to shore up his premiership when he faces his backbenchers at a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party tonight. Mr Sarwar has become the most significant Labour figure to demand that the Prime Minister stand down over his handling of the Lord Mandelson scandal. However, within just over an hour of his comments, the whole Cabinet, including Rachel Reeves, Yvette Cooper, David Lammy and Shabana Mahmood, rallied around the Prime Minister. Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, who has been touted as a potential leadership contender, urged MPs to “give Keir a chance” in a less than full-throated endorsement. Mr Sarwar, who is allied to Mr Streeting, told a press conference that the “distraction needs to end and the leadership in Downing Street has to change”. Labour is trailing behind the SNP in the polls for the next Holyrood election, with the latest poll showing them at 18 per cent to the SNP’s 35 per cent