Keir Starmer shuts down leadership challenge rumours as PM says he wants decade in power and lays out 10-year plan

He also spent the party's conference having to fight off speculation about Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham potentially launching a pre-emptive coup against his leadership.

When asked by The Sun if he still intended to be in power after a decade, he said: "Yes, it’s 10 years of national renewal and I always said it was a decade of national renewal.

"And I made it very clear in my conference speech how serious I am about patriotic national renewal, taking our country forward."

Mr Burnham relaunched a set of attacks on the Prime Minister, criticising the "narrow and shallow" way Sir Keir runs his government, citing the handling of the two-child benefit cap rebellion.

At the launch of his new book, Head North: A Rallying Cry for a More Equal Britain, co-written with Liverpool Mayor Steve Rotheram, Mr Burnham was asked about the case of backbench rebel and Liverpool West Derby MP, Ian Byrne.

Mr Byrne had the whip withdrawn and was suspended from Labour for six months for voting for a SNP amendment to end the two child benefit cap. He eventually had the whip restored in February.

Asked about Mr Byrne, the Greater Manchester Mayor said "No one lost the whip under Brown or Blair", before he argued MPs’ careers were "jeopardised" for "saying the right thing", reports The Spectator.

Pressed about a potential threat from the Greater Manchester Mayor, Sir Keir appeared to downplay the reports.

He told the BBC: "It is the bread and butter of politics. Every leader gets it. It’s in the job description. I don’t focus on that."

Labour has hit its lowest-ever poll rating with YouGov, as the pressure mounts on Sir Keir Starmer.

The party has fallen to just 17 per cent of the vote, around 10 per cent points Reform UK and just one point ahead of the Greens.

Sir Keir's party is now polling with YouGov lower under Sir Keir than the Conservatives ever did under Rishi Sunak.

The lowest Tory score recorded before the last election was 18 per cent.

In a move on the offence, Sir Keir took aim at Reform, suggesting Nigel Farage's party was too "Putin-friendly."

Speaking to reporters at the BAE factory in Preston after signing an £8billion deal to sell Typhoon jets to Turkey, Sir Keir added: "There is no way Nigel Farage and Reform could have won the order we won yesterday with Turkey.

"We only won that by being a leading member of Nato, whose central challenge is Ukraine."

Mr Farage has previously hit back at criticism over his stance on Russia, telling Bloomberg he thought Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin was "a very bad dude."

Mr Farage’s bid to bring forward legislation for the UK to leave the European Convention on Human Rights has been blocked by MPs, with the Reform MP leader accused of being "Putin’s patsy."

During his speech, Mr Farage told a group of MPs sat behind him, "children be quiet," following continuous interventions.

The Reform leader forced a vote on withdrawing from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) through a 10-minute rule motion on Wednesday.

The vote was not on the legislation itself, but on the principle of bringing forward a Bill. MPs voted against the motion 96 to 154, majority 58.