Keir Starmer issues statement about future amid calls to resign

The PM has finally spoken out

Starmer has faced severe pressure in recent days following the resignations of two high-profile Labour party members.

The PM's director of communications Tim Allan stepped down just this morning while top aide and chief of staff Morgan McSweeney resigned yesterday in the wake of the Mandelson scandal.

Recent revelations further detailed the relationship between former ambassador to the US Lord Peter Mandelson, who was sacked in September, and disgraced, paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein which has brought pressure on the Labour government who appointed him.

The files suggest Mandelson shared secret information with the convicted sex offender while he was business secretary.

Speaking out for the first time since the resignations, Starmer told Downing Street staff about the future, saying "we go forward from here."

Speaking about the now-departed Morgan McSweeney, the PM said: "I've known Morgan for eight years as a colleague and as a friend. 

"We have run up and down every political football pitch that is across the country. We've been in every battle that we needed to be in together. Fighting that battle. 

"We changed the Labour Party together. We won a general election together. And none of that would have been possible without Morgan McSweeney. 

"His dedication, his commitment and his loyalty to our party and our country was second to none. And I want to thank him for his service."

Speaking further, Starmer said: "The thing that makes me most angry is the undermining of the belief that politics can be a force for good and can change lives. 

"I have been absolutely clear that I regret the decision that I made to appoint Peter Mandelson. And I've apologised to the victims which is the right thing to do."

He added: "In just a few months, we start the work of lifting half a million children out of poverty. A massive thing to do in this country because that means that lives will be changed. 

"For decades to come, children who otherwise wouldn't have a fair chance and fair opportunity. Poverty holds children back like nothing else on earth. And so getting rid of child poverty opens up opportunities for so many."

He concluded: "We must prove that politics can be a force for good. 

"I believe it can. I believe it is. We go forward from here. We go with confidence as we continue changing the country."

Following the resignation of Tim Allan this morning, the director of communications said in a statement: "I have decided to stand down to allow a new Number 10 team to be built. 

"I wish the PM and his team every success."

Allan only took up the role in September last year.

He previously worked for Tony Blair, between 1992 and 1998.

This follows McSweeney's statement yesterday, which read: "The decision to appoint Peter Mandelson was wrong. He has damaged our party, our country and trust in politics itself.

"When asked, I advised the prime minister to make that appointment and I take full responsibility for that advice.

"In public life responsibility must be owned when it matters most, not just when it is most convenient. In the circumstances, the only honourable course is to step aside."

Keir Starmer has admitted he knew Mandelson had a relationship with Epstein before appointing him ambassador, but said he did not know the full extent of that relationship or the contents of key emails until later.