UK PM vows to 'prove doubters wrong', defies calls to resign | ABC NEWS

Added: 2026-05-15

[00:00:01]Well, pundits were describing this as yet another crunch moment for Sakir Starmer, another time in which he had to prove that he was the best man for the top job and deliver a speech of a lifetime. Now, I'm not sure it was quite that. We heard a lot of repeated lines, uh but we certainly saw a defiant Prime Minister who refused to stand down. He had his sleeves rolled up. Uh he wasn't wearing a tie or a suit jacket. He was certainly trying to project the image that he was ready to get down to business to fix the problems that Labour faces. Now, he has over the last few months faced many uh suggestions of people challenging his leadership, but over the weekend after seeing those disastrous results for Labour in the local council elections here and also parliamentary ones in Scotland and Wales, those calls for him to go have continued. Uh in this speech, which went for about 20 minutes, uh he accepted responsibility for those election results and acknowledged that people [music] weren't happy with him at this point in time, but he quickly turned his message to his opponents including Reform UK leader Nigel Farage describing him as dangerous and as someone who hasn't delivered on his pledge to the British people. We are not just facing dangerous times, but dangerous opponents.

[00:01:37]Very dangerous opponents.

[00:01:40]This hurts not just because Labour has done badly, but because if we don't get this right, our country will go down a very dark path.

[00:01:53]Sakir Starmer was facing a leadership challenge from backbench MP Catherine West. Uh you'd be forgiven for not knowing who she was just 24 hours ago.

[00:02:02]She is a member of Parliament representing North London.

[00:02:07]Uh as those results started flowing through on Saturday, she said that she would challenge the Kier's leadership unless cabinet put forward another name by Monday morning. She since abandoned that plan but says that she is now collecting names for an orderly transition of leadership by September.

[00:02:26]We don't expect this leadership spill to happen fast. We've been speaking about this for many months now, yet no one has made a move which suggests that they don't yet have the numbers.