Starmer in unity plea... but Labour still wants PM to quit!

LABOUR was in chaos last night after Sir Keir Starmer said he stood ‘united’ with Boris Johnson against Russia – before the party insisted it still wanted the Prime Minister to resign.

Sir Keir had been extolling the virtues of solidarity in the face of Kremlin aggression yesterday morning.

But confusingly, party sources later said: ‘Our position is unchanged, we haven’t withdrawn our call for Boris Johnson to resign.’

The Labour leader called for the Prime Minister to stand down in January amid the fallout from the probe into alleged lockdown-busting parties in Downing Street. Sir Keir accused Mr Johnson of having ‘lost the moral authority’ to lead the country.

But he told the BBC’s Sunday Morning programme yesterday that it’s important to ‘show the world that

‘Slapped down by his press office’

we’re united’ despite his criticism of the Prime Minister. Asked if he would withdraw his call for Mr Johnson to resign immediately, he said: ‘At the moment the Prime Minister is obviously concentrating on the job in hand and we stand united on that issue.’

The party’s defence spokesman John Healey also said it was right to set aside calls for his resignation.

‘Labour gives its full backing to the extent the Government will stand by and support the Ukrainians’ resistance,’ he told Times Radio.

A Tory source last night said: ‘Keir Starmer’s attempts to look like a leader yesterday ended in farce. Just over an hour after he expressed his unity with the Government over our sanctions against Russia and military support for Ukraine, he was slapped down by his own press office.’