Starmer latest: Labour has ‘Herculean task’ to move on from anger over Mandelson scandal, warns Miliband

MP Diane Abbott has slammed a round of applause for Keir Starmer following his vow to stay on as prime minister as “staged.”

Starmer was met with a prolonged round of applause after addressing the parliamentary Labour Party on Monday evening, amid mounting pressure to resign amid a scandal involving Lord Peter Mandelson and the latest release of the Epstein files.

"I think the round of applause in the committee room just now was staged," Abbot, who was suspended by the Labour Party last year, told Channel 4 News.

“I can’t see him lasting beyond May’s election,” she added.

Sir Keir Starmer is “not on his knees” but “'strong, determined and committed” following a weekend of chaos, a Labour MP has said.

Karl Turner told Sky News the prime minister was “angry at himself” for taking advice to appoint Lord Mandelson as US ambassador.

But he added: "I think he's satisfied the Parliamentary Labour Party that this is the prime minister, not on his knees, as some of the media suggest, but a prime minister, strong and determined and committed to delivering for the British public."

Labour MP Brian Leishman has said the prime minister’s performance has been “nowhere near good enough” and that it was not a “miscalculation” of Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar to call on Sir Keir Starmer to resign.

The Alloa and Grangemouth MP also said that nothing has changed in his mind since Mr Sarwar’s announcement on Monday and he also still thinks the Prime Minister should step down.

Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland’s Breakfast programme he said: “I think it’s fair to say that Anas yesterday was honest, up front and very, very clear on his position.

“So I don’t think that can ever be represented as a miscalculation. I think what Anas said yesterday, he admitted it was a difficult decision for him but it was the right decision for Scotland, and that certainly chimes with the conversations that I’m having on the doorsteps in the Holyrood campaign.”

He added: “Anas yesterday was correct when he said in his assessment that Keir Starmer’s performance in his first 18 months has not been good enough.”

Asked whether he still thinks Sir Keir should resign he said: “Yes. Keir Starmer’s performance over his first 18 months in Government has been nowhere near good enough.”

Ed Miliband said Sir Keir Starmer had faced a moment of “peril” on Monday - but that a “chaotic” leadership election was not the right choice for the party.

The energy secretary told BBC Breakfast that “in a sense, yesterday was a moment of peril for the prime minister.”

“I make no bones about that but, as a collective body, the Cabinet, the Labour Party looked at the alternatives of going down this road of a chaotic leadership election, trying to depose a prime minister, and they said ‘no, that’s not for us’,” he added.

If the day started with the big question being whether the departure of Morgan McSweeney has cleared the air with the Labour MPs gathering at a parliamentary party meeting tonight, the focus has now moved from the matter of when (not if) Keir Starmer will hand over the leadership, to whether it is going to be prised from his hands. Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar’s direct call to dump Starmer was like a bruise being repeatedly punched.

“There have been too many mistakes ... too much has happened,” said Sarwar, in a hammer blow to his “friend”. “No one knows or hears the good things – they are being drowned out. That is why it cannot continue.” His insistence that Starmer is “a decent man” now sounds like a lament – and the nice way of telling a prime minister to go.

Sarwar’s solemn denunciation feels much like the first northern brick tumbling from the wall of an unsteady internal coalition, not least given that the Scottish party leader owes his own perch in Scottish politics to Starmer’s backing. Resignations, as we know from recent years of Tory turmoil, are contagious. It might not be long before the leadership in Wales follows suit, at which point the opposition becomes geographical as well as ideological.

Political Correspondent Millie Cooke:

Sir Keir Starmer has shown a determination to fulfil his mandate after a “very, very damaging episode”, Ed Miliband has said, denying that the prime minister won't be in post much longer.

Asked how long the prime minister will be in post, the energy secretary told BBC Breakfast that the Labour Party had “looked over the precipice and thought the right thing to do is to support our leader”.

Asked whether the reality was that Sir Keir would not be in post for very long, Mr Miliband said: “I don’t agree with that.

“I think what Keir has done after a very, very damaging episode, by taking responsibility, by showing that there needs to be change, is shown a determination to fulfil the mandate on which he was elected.

“And I think the job of all of us is to support him to do that and and I actually think that you know, your viewers will remember what happened under the Conservatives, which is disorderly, chaotic, leadership changes. I don’t think that’s what the country wants.”

Political Correspondent Millie Cooke:

Ed Miliband says he disagrees with Wes Streeting's assessment that the government has no growth strategy, revealed in the messages he published yesterday to exonerate allegations over his links to Peter Mandelson.

Asked about the claim, Mr Miliband told Sky News: "I think that actually, Rachel has done a very good job as chancellor.

"I havent seen the detail of the messages but I think we've seen the stability that is essential. We've seen the investment I'm announcing today... That's only possible because of the decisions Rachel's made."

Labour MP Jenny Chapman was “disappointed” with Anas Sarwar after he called for Keir Starmer’s resignation on Monday, and suggested that he should no longer be the leader of the Scottish Labour party.

“It’s for him to really think about whether he wants to stand by what he said or how he wants to handle that,” she said.

“The leader of UK Labour doesn’t fire the leader of Scottish Labour, that is not how we work. It’s for the members of Scotland.”

Speaking to LBC on Tuesday, Ms Chapman said she had tried to call Mr Sarwar before his press conference in which he called for the prime minister to go.

“He didn’t pick up the phone to me and I called him just beforehand.”

When asked what she would say and whether it would involve more than four letters, she said: “No. Anyway...”