Sir Keir Starmer has broken his silence on whether he would fight a leadership contest from a rival Labour Party MP. Starmer addressed the nation with a make-or-break speech at 10am on Monday, May 11.
When questioned by Pippa Crerar from the Guardian, Starmer said he "would not walk away" and replied "yes" when asked if he would challenge a leadership contest from a rival MP.
There have been suggestions that Angela Rayner, Ed Miliband, and Wes Streeting could launch leadership bids, as well as Andy Burnham, who would need a sitting MP to give up their seat for him to return to Parliament.
Starmer's Vision for Britain
Elsewhere in his speech, Starmer stated that there are millions of people who care passionately about their communities and that there is "great strength of our country" because "we are a reasonable, tolerant, decent country, a live and let live country, a diverse country that is the real Britain."
"That is the Britain that I will fight for, particularly in light of the opponents we now have politically different to the opponents that we had before," he added. "That is the real Britain. That is the Britain I love. That's the Britain I'll fight for."
Criticism of Nigel Farage and Brexit
The prime minister also took aim at Reform's Nigel Farage, who he said promised Brexit would make the country stronger and richer, there would be more money for the NHS, and immigration would come down, but "it all proved to be false."
"He doesn't take any responsibility. He's not going back to the country now saying: 'It was a good thing you've all benefited.' He'll talk about almost anything else apart from the consequences of the one thing that he delivered for the country, Brexit."
"He doesn't want to talk about that. There's a reason for that. It didn't help working people. It turned out what he said wasn't true. That's why he doesn't want to talk about it now. But we have to talk about it now because we have to address the situation we're in."
"We have to give this country a stronger economy, a stronger defence and security set of arrangements, given the world we are living in. And that's why I said what I've said about being closer to Europe and this government being defined by bringing Europe back together again and Britain at the heart of Europe."
