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Starmer addressed a packed meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) in Westminster this evening in the wake of Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar’s call for him to step down.

But Starmer, flanked by his cabinet, struck a defiant note, telling MPs: “After having fought so hard for the chance to change our country, I’m not prepared to walk away from my mandate and my responsibility to my country, or to plunge us into chaos as others have done.”

Arguing he had changed the Crown Prosecution Service so it “better served victims of violence against women and girls” and changed the Labour Party so it could win an election, he said: “I have won every fight I’ve ever been in.”

Downing Street sources characterised the prime minister as “absolutely determined” as he appeared before MPs hours after Sarwar said he should quit.

But they added he acknowledged his operation had not been “open or inclusive enough”, and pledged to give more weight to the views of the PLP in a meeting described by MPs present as broadly positive towards Starmer.

At tonight’s meeting there were more than 30 interruptions for applause from MPs, although one critic of the prime minister compared the scene with the Battle of the Little Bighorn – the Wild West massacre known as Custer’s Last Stand.

Starmer also paid tribute to his former chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, and apologised again for his decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US.

And he issued a rallying call to his MPs, urging them to unite against Reform UK, describing the fight against Nigel Farage’s party as “the fight of our lives”.

He said: “It goes to the heart and soul of who we are as a party, as a government, and as a country, what it is to be British. And if they ever get in, they will divide, divide, divide. And it will tear this beautiful country apart. That is the fight of our times.”

He added: “I’ll tell you this, as long as I have breath in my body, I’ll be in that fight, on behalf of the country that I love and I believe in, against those that want to tear it up.”

Earlier today, Sarwar had told a press conference that “the leadership in Downing Street has to change”, saying “failures in the heart” of Government were hurting Labour’s chances in Scotland.

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His comments made him the most senior Labour figure to call for Starmer’s resignation, but few within the party followed him, as every member of the Cabinet rallied round the Prime Minister.

Former deputy leader Angela Rayner, regarded as a potential successor to Starmer, gave the Prime Minister her full backing, while the soft left Tribune Group said a leadership contest would be “wrong and counterproductive”.

In a statement, the group said: “When the Government has deviated from our Labour values, it has made errors, but this Labour Government has begun the serious work of changing the country and delivering the national renewal we promised voters in 2024.”

But the Tribune MPs also issued a veiled call for a ministerial reshuffle, saying delivering change required “a Cabinet and front bench that reflect the breadth of views” across the party.

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