Sir Keir Starmer is “reflecting” on resigning as Prime Minister and will make a decision imminently, a senior Cabinet Minister has told GB News.
Business Secretary Peter Kyle said that the Prime Minister has spent the weekend considering his options “in the interests of the country”.
Sir Keir has come under intense pressure to step aside following Andy Burnham’s huge victory in the Makerfield by-election.
More than 100 MPs have called for the Prime Minister to step aside, with 200 said to be backing Mr Burnham to replace him in No10.
Speaking to Camilla Tominey, Mr Kyle said Sir Keir was: “Making time this weekend, as well as doing the job of Prime Minister, to reflect on the political challenges that our country faces, that he faces, and he will be making decisions in the interests of the country on the back of that.
“I can’t predict the future. I am not his spokesperson. I’m not with him today. What I do know is that I spent quite a considerable amount of time with him on Friday.
“He asked lots of questions. Always, always based in the interests of the country. He asked me very clearly what he felt in a whole degree of different circumstances, what the country were expecting for us as a party, him as a leader and us as a government.
“He said that he wanted time this weekend to reflect on it. I mean, literally, I cannot say any more than that.”
Peter Kyle told GB News Sir Keir Starmer is ‘reflecting’ on resigning as Prime Minister and will make a decision imminently
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“You aren’t ruling out him resigning tomorrow,” Camilla interjected.
“I’ve just said the process that’s underway at the moment, and Keir will come back and make a decision. You always put the interests of the country first.”
When pushed by the GB News host, Mr Kyle stressed his previous remarks.
“(Sir Keir) said that this weekend is a busy weekend for him as Prime Minister, but he will make time to reflect on the political challenges, as well as all of the other issues that the Prime Minister must deal with, and then we will move forward from there.
“Those are the facts, and I am not here to commentate, to speculate or to regurgitate what is being said in the media,” the Cabinet Minister insisted.
Sir Keir has come under intense pressure to step aside following Andy Burnham’s huge victory in the Makerfield by-election.
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“We do not do what the Tories did, which is to have a moment of political challenge that turned into chaos for the country.
“So I am not denying that the landscape upon which I am standing.
“I am just trying to give you the certainties and also what and to explain to you what I and the Prime Minister are trying to do in this moment of time,” Mr Kyle said.
The Business Secretary was speaking as speculation of the Prime Minister’s future has recahed fever pitch, with allies said to be telling Sir Keir to set out a timeline for his departure.
‘The process that’s underway at the moment, and Keir will come back and make a decision,’ Peter Kyle said
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“He’s come up hard against the reality that the support isn’t there,” one Labour grandee said.
“The truth is everyone knows this is no longer a tenable proposition.
“There’s a sadness about it all, of course, but sometimes there’s just an inevitability in politics,” they told The Observer.
Mr Burnham will be sworn in as an MP on Monday, where is he expected to mount a leadership challenge against Sir Keir.
Following the result in Makerfield, the Prime Minister insisted: “I will stand, and I’ve said repeatedly I’m not going to walk away.”
“The one thing we’ve got to avoid doing is plunging our party and our country into chaos by turning on each other and tearing apart our party.
“That has never worked,” Sir Keir said.