Keir Starmer Resigns as UK PM Amidst Political Turmoil
Keir Starmer has resigned as British Prime Minister. Starmer announced Monday that he will stand down as Labour leader and Prime Minister, ending months of political turmoil and opening a contest to replace him.
The announcement follows mounting pressure on the prime minister after Labour suffered heavy losses in local elections in May and faced an increasingly vocal rebellion from his own lawmakers over his leadership and policy agenda.
The move comes less than two years after Starmer led Labour to one of its largest parliamentary majorities in the 2024 general election.
In a statement outside 10 Downing Street shortly after 9:30 a.m. in London, Starmer said he would remain in post until any leadership contest is completed, which he said would help ensure an orderly handover of power.
He says every decision he has made in office has been about “putting the country I love first”, thanking his “fantastic wife, Vic”, describing her as a “rock”. He also said he wants to be the “best dad I can to my beautiful children, who are my pride and joy”
Veteran Labour politician Andy Burnham is due to take up his seat in the House of Commons, after clinching victory in a crunch by-election and clearing the path for an anticipated leadership challenge.
Under Labour’s rules, the leader of the centre-left party must be a member of parliament. Britain will now get its seventh prime minister in a decade — an unprecedented rate of churn in its modern history.
The 63-year-old ex-lawyer had insisted he would fight any attempt to oust him, but the emphatic nature of Burnham’s victory in last week’s northwest Makerfield constituency vote appears to have prompted a weekend rethink.
Even US President Donald Trump was predicting Starmer’s imminent departure from Downing Street, writing Sunday on his Truth Social platform that “Keir Starmer will resign”
The American leader, who initially enjoyed a good rapport with Starmer before the Iran war ruptured the relationship, said he had failed on immigration and energy policies. “I wish him well,” Trump added.
Burnham — Greater Manchester mayor since 2017 — has made clear he intends to bid to lead slumping Labour, warning in his by-election victory speech the ruling party had a “final chance to change”.
Starmer, who is deeply unpopular with voters according to polling, reportedly spent the weekend holed up with his family at Chequers, the countryside retreat for prime ministers, holding talks with allies.
Business Secretary Peter Kyle told Sky News he was “making time to reflect on the political realities, challenges and opportunities that he finds himself in”.
Before his resignation, The Guardian had reported that Starmer and his inner circle were working on his resignation speech, with the most likely timetable seeing him staying in office until after the summer, with the new leader to be hailed at the party conference in late September.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper was among the senior ministers telling her boss to go, according to Sky News, while more than 100 of Labour’s 403 MPs have reportedly urged him to resign.
Starmer, who took office in July 2024, has been clinging to power for months after a tenure littered with missteps, policy U-turns, scandals, and ministerial resignations.
He was nearly ousted in March, over his ill-fated decision to appoint Peter Mandelson, a known associate of late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as the UK’s ambassador to Washington.
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