Lady Starmer tells PM ‘you can’t walk away’ as Labour MPs plot Andy Burnham's coronation

Sir Keir Starmer’s wife has urged her husband to fight on as Prime Minister following Andy Burnham’s Makerfield by-election win.

Lady Starmer, whom Sir Keir has called his "rock", was in attendance alongside the Prime Minister at the G7 summit ahead of polls opening in Makerfield earlier this week.

Despite more than 100 Labour MPs calling on Sir Keir to step down, three pro-Starmer aides have claimed that Lady Starmer has steadied the Prime Minister’s nerve.

One told The Telegraph: “Vic is of the view that ‘you need to keep on going'."

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They continued: “There was a weekend that he [the Prime Minister] spoke to Vic, and Vic was like, ‘you can’t walk away’.”

Another member of Sir Keir’s inner circle said: “You hear second-hand she’s really pushing for him to stay.”

The source claimed that she is “more political” than Sir Keir, with a Downing Street insider adding: “They are ridiculously close. Vic is very important in talking stuff through with Keir.”

The support of Lady Starmer became apparent following Cabinet ministers calling for the Prime Minister to step aside following Mr Burnham’s victory.

Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, Yvette Cooper, the Foreign Secretary, and the Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, have all previously said that Sir Keir should consider standing down.

Lisa Nandy, the Culture Secretary, said following Mr Burnham’s Makerfield win that she hoped he would serve in Labour’s “top team, at the top table” and he would put the party in a “really strong position".

Baroness Harman, who was recently appointed as an advisor to Sir Keir and would do the same for Mr Burnham should he become Prime Minister, gave a glum description of the Prime Minister’s current position.

She told Sky News: “Well, I hate to quote Boris Johnson, but do you remember when he said when he realised that he had to leave Government?

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“He said about his ministers and his MPs, ‘the herd is moving’.

“Well, I have to say that it’s not only that the herd is moving – they are stampeding.”

Allies of Mr Burnham have argued that Sir Keir should step aside by September without a leadership contest to avoid plunging the party into further chaos.

Luke Charters, who resigned as a ministerial aide to back Mr Burnham, has called for Sir Keir’s resignation, asking him to “read the room".

Louise Haigh told the BBC that Sir Keir should “agree a managed way forward".

She added: “Andy has come back to Westminster to change Labour and to take that right to the top.”

The Telegraph has also revealed that the Prime Minister has a leadership campaign website ready should a leadership contest be triggered.

A senior ally of Sir Keir has claimed he may trigger a contest himself if it becomes untenable to govern due to the pressure from Mr Burnham’s supporters.

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