Sir Keir Starmer has admitted he failed to get to grips with the revolt by Labour MPs over benefits cuts as he was distracted by the Middle East crisis and a NATO summit.
The Prime Minister spent much of the past fortnight out of the country to attend a meeting of G7 leaders in Canada, and then a NATO gathering in The Hague.
He was also hunkered down in domestic emergency meetings over the Israel-Iran conflict, as well as the US bombing of Iran‘s nuclear sites.
At the same time, Labour MPs were mounting a major backbench rebellion over Sir Keir’s plans to cut £5billion from Britain’s welfare bill.
The PM has now been forced to U-turn on those plans as he faced the threat of a hugely damaging defeat in the House of Commons.
The embarrassing reversal has seen fresh scrutiny of Sir Keir’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, with the powerful aide coming under attack over his handling of the row.
But, speaking to The Sunday Times, Sir Keir insisted it was himself who should ‘carry the can’ for the humiliating climbdown.
‘All these decisions are my decisions and I take ownership of them,’ he said.
Sir Keir Starmer has admitted he failed to get to grips with the revolt by Labour MPs over benefits cuts as he was distracted by the Middle East crisis and a NATO summit
The Prime Minister pictured with US President Donald Trump at the G7 summit in Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada, earlier this month
Sir Keir also met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Poland’s PM Donald Tusk at a NATO summit last week
The PM added: ‘My rule of leadership is, when things go well you get the plaudits; when things don’t go well you carry the can.
‘I take responsibility for all the decisions made by this government. I do not talk about staff and I’d much prefer it if everybody else didn’t.’
Sir Keir admitted he was ‘heavily focused’ on international affairs over the past two weeks, as Labour’s backbench rebellion grew in size.
‘I’m putting this as context rather than excuse: I was heavily focused on what was happening with NATO and the Middle East all weekend,’ he told the newspaper.
‘I turned my attention fully to it when I got back from NATO on Wednesday night.
‘Obviously in the course of the early part of this week we were busy trying to make sure NATO was a success.’
The PM added: ‘From the moment I got back from the G7, I went straight into a Cobra meeting.
‘My full attention really bore down on this on Thursday. At that point we were able to move relatively quickly.’
The Government’s original welfare package had restricted eligibility for Personal Independence Payment (PIP), which is the main disability payment in England.
It also cut the health-related element of Universal Credit.
Existing recipients were to be given a 13-week phase-out period of financial support in an earlier bid by ministers to head off backbench opposition.
But, following the Government’s latest offer of concessions to rebel MPs, the changes to PIP will now only be implemented in November 2026 and apply to new claimants only.
All existing recipients of the health element of Universal Credit will also have their incomes protected in real terms.
The concessions on PIP alone protect some 370,000 people currently receiving the allowance who were set to lose out following reassessment.
Ministers had hoped the reforms would get more people back into work and save up to £5 billion a year.
But the concessions made leave Chancellor Rachel Reeves needing to find money elsewhere and point to possible fresh tax rises in the autumn.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch will hit out at Sir Keir as ‘incapable of sticking to a decision’ after he backed down on his plans.
The reforms would only have made ‘modest reductions to the ballooning welfare bill’, but the PM was ‘too weak to hold the line’, she is expected to say in an upcoming speech.
