Labour minister left stuttering over Keir Starmer exit question as GMB turns tense

Labour MP Darren Jones was caught in the headlights as Good Morning Britain's Susanna Reid directly asked him about Keir Starmer's future as he appeared on the ITV breakfast show. He looked awkward as she asked: "Can I just establish...the Prime Minister this morning... is absolutely determined to stay on as Prime Minister until the next general election?"

Stuttering, he responded: "I can only point to the Prime Minister's words of yesterday, where he was very clear with the public, as well as with anybody else that is interested in this question, that he is not walking away. He doesn't think changing Prime Ministers frequently is the right thing to do for the country. We all know that because we lived through it, from Teresa May to Boris Johnson to Liz Truss to Rishi Sunak. You know, there are real-world implications for the economy, for the capacity and government to be able to get on and deliver on its promises," he said.

He continued: "And it's the right thing for the Labour Party - to make sure it's putting the country first, putting all of our efforts into delivering on that change.

"Because, quite frankly, one of the reasons, in my view, that populist politics are doing better than we would like them to be right now is because the public doesn't quite believe that our democratic institutions are able to deliver the change they want in their lives."

Reid interjected: "It sounds like, as chief secretary to the Prime Minister, you are saying this morning, the Prime Minister is determined to stay on? Are you saying this morning that he should absolutely stay on because the Home Secretary thinks that he should set out a timetable for his departure? So there's a split, isn't there?"

"I don't know what the Home Secretary has said one way or another to the Prime Minister, so I can't corroborate those news reports," he insisted.

"But what I do know, and Keir Starmer has been very clear with the party about this ever since he became leader of the opposition: we must put the country first, because that's how we win elections.

"It's how we get given the chance, the privilege to be able to serve this country and to be able to enact the changes that we want to help people get on and do well in life.

"I'm not going to get into any private conversations with the prime minister, whether they're my own, the foreign secretaries, their own secretaries, or anyone else's. The prime minister frequently talks to all of us in cabinet about the government's work, and we've all been reflecting on the local election results from last Thursday.

"But I'm absolutely resolute in my mind, that we are coming into the office today to get on and delivering for the British people, to make sure that our country can rise to the challenges that we face in the years ahead, and not kind of falling into the political chaos that we saw under the conservatives, which the public rightly rejected at the ballot box only two years ago," he said.