Starmer defends investment on defence as he vows to fight any leadership challenge – as it happened

This blog is now closed, you can read more on this story here Keir Starmer has said that he will fight to keep his job if he faces a leadership challenge. In an interview with Chris Mason, the BBC’s political editor, Starmer also defended his proposals for the defence investment plan (Dip) saying that he did not accept it was underfunded. double quotation markI want to complete the work I was elected into government to do. And therefore that’s why I’ve always said I’m not going to walk away from the commitment that I made in 2024 to serve my country and the mandate that I won from the British public in order to do so. That was a mandate we won in 2024 with me then leading my party and me now as prime minister. I’m not going to walk away from that because I think it’s very important that we carry on ensuring that we do the right thing. Starmer said he thought it would be a mistake for Labour to “plunge the country into the chaos of a leadership election”. But, if there is a leadership challenge, “I will fight,” he said. double quotation markThat’s not about personal vanity, it’s not about stubbornness, it’s out of a very deep sense of duty. I will post more