London, United Kingdom. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Friday rejected suggestions that he had lost authority and said he would fight to remain in office after defence minister John Healey resigned and criticised his leadership.
Response to resignation
Starmer made his first public comments since Healey’s resignation, which came a day earlier and added pressure to his leadership.
Healey accused Starmer of being unable to commit the resources needed to keep the country safe, in criticism of the prime minister’s authority over his ministers.
Starmer vows to stay
“I’m not going to walk away,” Starmer told the BBC.
He said he would fight any challenge to his position as rivals were expected to launch a contest to replace him in the coming weeks or months.
“Let me just be clear with you, that’s not about personal vanity, it’s not about stubbornness, it’s out of a very deep sense of duty. I was elected to serve this country, notwithstanding the difficult circumstances. That is what I am doing,” he said.
Defence spending and budget constraints
Starmer rejected Healey’s criticism and said defence and security were his top priorities and would remain so whenever the government made future spending decisions.
He said he had already made “hard-edged” choices to cut other departments’ budgets in order to direct more money toward defence investment.
“Whoever is prime minister is going to face the same prevailing winds as I am facing. None of that is going to change,” Starmer said.