Keir Starmer will be Prime Minister beyond this Parliament, Downing Street says

Sir Keir Starmer will still be Prime Minister beyond the current Parliament, Downing Street has insisted.

The Labour leader has faced calls to resign amid the fallout from the Lord Peter Mandelson vetting scandal, and Cabinet divisions are said to have emerged over his handling of the process, including his decision to sack Foreign Office chief Sir Olly Robbins.

Dismissing suggestions that Sir Keir is planning to set out when he will step down, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “He’s very focused on the job.

“I refer you back to his previous language that he will continue to lead the Government throughout this Parliament and beyond.

“He’s got a huge amount of work to do. We’re in the middle of a global conflict, the like of which we’ve not seen for years.”

The Prime Minister has said he has been exonerated over accusations he misled MPs by evidence from Sir Olly Robbins – the former Foreign Office chief he sacked last week, and has accused opponents of making politically motivated allegations.

Adding to the pressure on Thursday, the leader of a prominent group of backbenchers said Sir Keir made the “biggest mistake of his life” by appointing Lord Mandelson as British ambassador to the US.

Jo White, who chairs the Red Wall group of Labour MPs, said the Government must “cleanse” itself of the problems that have emerged from the vetting scandal.

Sir Keir was asked whether he had considered resigning during a visit to Newcastle.

He said: “Last week, my political opponents were saying that there’s no way a civil servant wouldn’t have told me about the outcome of a developed vetting security exercise.

“Turns out my political opponents were completely wrong about that.

“Then they said that I was dishonest.

“It turns out they were completely wrong about that.

“They are now putting any allegation they can and I will tell you for why – they are opposed politically to what this Government is trying to achieve.”

It come as Sir Keir’s former chief of staff Morgan McSweeney denied claims he bullied civil servants into appointing Lord Mandelson.

Before his appearance at the Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday, the political strategist told a security forum in Kyiv: “I find it strange reading about a character with the same name as mine sometimes.

“I don’t recognise that character,” he said, as first reported by The Times.

Ian Collard, head of the Foreign Office estates, security and network directorate, has also been asked to speak on Tuesday.

It was Mr Collard who Sir Olly said briefed him on the vetting findings that deemed Lord Mandelson a borderline case and leaned towards recommending that clearance be denied.

Committee chair Dame Emily Thornberry has written to the Foreign Secretary to ask that he appear, saying: “His evidence would fill gaps in our investigation, and as he and Sir Olly Robbins were potentially the only people in the meeting to discuss Lord Mandelson’s security vetting, we must insist on seeing him personally in this instance.”