Keir Starmer has said he did not get a grip on the Labour rebellion over disability benefits earlier because he was focused on foreign affairs.
The prime minister acknowledged he had not got it right, and said he would have wanted to make the concessions earlier. 鈥淚鈥檇 have liked to get to a better position with colleagues sooner than we did,鈥 Starmer said in an interview with the Sunday Times. 鈥淚鈥檓 putting this as context rather than an excuse.
鈥淚 was heavily focused on what was happening with Nato and the Middle East all weekend. 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.鈥
Related: 鈥楾oo arrogant to listen鈥: how welfare bill soured Starmer鈥檚 relations with rebel MPs
He insisted there had been 鈥渁 lot of outreach鈥 over the bill to backbench MPs but acknowledged more should have been done. 鈥淲ould I rather have been able to get to a constructive package with colleagues earlier? Yeah, I would. [But] I believe in the world we live in, not the world we want to live in,鈥 he said.
It is Starmer鈥檚 third admission of having taken the wrong course in recent days, indicating he may be moving to try to reset his premiership. He gave an interview to the Observer saying he 鈥渄eeply regrets鈥 having used the phrase 鈥渋sland of strangers鈥 about immigration and that he made the wrong choice in having appointed the former civil servant Sue Gray to be his chief of staff.
Starmer will be attempting this week to draw a line under the welfare rebellion, with whips working to persuade Labour MPs to back the bill with new concessions on Tuesday.
Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, offered the changes at midnight last Thursday, which would protect all existing claimants of personal independence payments (Pip) and raise the health element of universal credit in line with inflation.
However, dozens of Labour MPs remain unconvinced, with No 10 facing a battle over the next 48 hours to minimise the size of the revolt.
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, said he was confident the government would win the vote on Tuesday, telling Sky News鈥檚 Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips that the changes 鈥渉ave put us in a much better position鈥.
鈥淎s a result of the changes, it means anyone watching this morning who鈥檚 in receipt of personal independence payments now has the peace of mind of knowing that their situation is protected,鈥 he said.
One of the original leading rebels, the former transport secretary Louise Haigh, said she would now vote in favour as long as the details confirmed the changes that were promised by Kendall. She said Starmer should now reset the government鈥檚 relationship with the public and party backbenchers.
She told BBC One鈥檚 Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme it was welcome that Starmer had 鈥渁cknowledged that mistakes have been made and that things need to change鈥. She said: 鈥淚 think this is a moment and an opportunity to reset the government鈥檚 relationship with the British public and to move forward, to adopt a different approach to our economic policy and our political strategy.
鈥淎nd I think that has been accepted from within government and a lot of people, both in the parliamentary Labour party, but crucially, the country, will really welcome that.鈥