Starmer admits 'tough week' but vows to lead Labour into next General Election
The Prime Minister spoke of his determination to keep leading his party despite calls growing for his resignation
Sir Keir Starmer has vowed to lead Labour into the next General Election days after facing calls to resign over the Peter Mandelson scandal.
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The Prime Minister acknowledged he had suffered a "tough week" but added: "When you do my job, you have tough weeks."
The resignations of his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, and director of communications, Tim Allan, reportedly left Sir Keir on the brink of resigning.
The departures come after the decision to appoint Mandelson as the UK's ambassador to the US despite his ties to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Pledging to continue as PM, Sir Keir told the Sun on Sunday he "absolutely" would lead Labour into the next election.
He said: "I won the leadership of the Labour Party when people said I wouldn’t. I changed the Labour Party when people said I couldn’t.
"I won an election when people said we wouldn’t. And now I intend to change the country, whatever other people say."
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar was also seen to call for the PM to stand down on Monday during an impromptu press conference at Trades Hall in Glasgow, saying: "the distraction needs to stop".
Pressed whether he had a message to those inside his party trying to oust him, the PM replied: "I think it’s absolutely clear that the party does not want to descend into the chaos of the last government. That is crystal clear.
"What the party wants, what the government wants, is to be utterly focused on what matters."
Mr Allan's resignation came after being appointed Downing Street’s executive director of communications at the start of September under Sir Keir’s attempted "reset” at No 10.
Mr McSweeney also stepped down from his role, and said he took "full responsibility" for advising Sir Keir to appoint Lord Mandelson as US ambassador in 2024.
But scrutiny of Sir Keir’s own judgment had mounting after critics highlighted that he made the final decision.