Keir Starmer chokes up as he resigns as UK Prime Minister — less than 2 years after landslide election win
Sir Keir Starmer choked up as he announced his resignation as UK Prime Minister Monday – paving the way for newly-elected MP Andy Burnham to succeed him.
Starmer, 63, set out a timetable to stand down after coming under mounting pressure following last month’s local elections, where the governing Labour Party lost over 1,000 seats.
The Prime Minister announced his intention to step down after admitting the Labour Party was questioning whether he could lead it into the next general election, scheduled for 2029, just 23 months after leading his party to a landslide win.
“I have heard the answer of my parliamentary party to that question, and I accept that answer with good grace,” Starmer said outside 10 Downing Street in London.
Every decision I’ve taken has been about putting the country I love first. That is why I will resign as leader of the Labour Party. I have spoken to His Majesty the King this morning to inform him of my decision.”
Starmer confirmed nominations to elect a new leader will open on July 9 and the process will be completed by the summer recess.
This now paves the way for either a coronation or a contest where Labour members will decide who is the party’s next leader, and the UK’s next Prime Minister.
Burnham – the former Greater Manchester mayor – is the overwhelming favorite to succeed Starmer.
Polling revealed he would have comprehensively defeated Starmer if the Prime Minister decided to contest any leadership election, which he vowed to do so as recently as Friday.
The next Prime Minister will be the 7th to hold the esteemed office in the 10 years that followed the Brexit referendum.
Starmer said he will remain as Prime Minister until there is a new leader.
Starmer’s voice cracked with emotion as he concluded his speech — thanking his wife, Victoria, for being a “rock … in good times and bad.”
“When I leave the biggest job in the country, I shall spend more time on the most important job, being the best husband I can to my fantastic wife Vic,” he said. “And being the best dad I can to my beautiful children who are my pride and joy.”
Starmer spent the past weekend at the Prime Minister’s country retreat of Chequers, considering his future in light of Burnham’s storming win in the by-election held in the North West England constituency of Makerfield.
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He had previously vowed to fight any leadership election in the wake of Burnham’s victory before realizing the game was up, according to a senior Labour figure.
“What he rightly wants to avoid is humiliation, but the worst humiliation for Keir personally would be if he stands in a leadership election and is heavily beaten,” they told Reuters.
Labour suffered devastating losses across England’s post-industrial heartlands, where they were routed by Nigel Farage’s insurgent Reform UK Party.
Labour also lost more than 450 seats in London alone — with the left-wing Green Party making gains in what were Labour strongholds.
Labour was also swamped in Scotland and Wales, losing control of the latter’s devolved parliament — the Senedd — for the first time since its creation in 1999.
Starmer suffered a wave of resignations in the wake of the local elections drubbing.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting resigned after admitting he had lost confidence in Starmer’s leadership — and blasted the Prime Minister for a lack of vision.
“But where we need vision, we have a vacuum. Where we need direction, we have drift,” he wrote in his resignation letter.
Just last week, Starmer lost his Defense Secretary John Healey over the government’s defense investment plan.
“You have been unable, and the Treasury has been unwilling, to commit the resources that the nation needs to defend the country at this time of rising threats,” Healey told Starmer in his resignation letter.
Starmer’s popularity has plunged after repeated missteps and U-turns on policies such as welfare reform, as well as his disastrous decision to appoint Peter Mandelson, a scandal-tarnished friend of Jeffrey Epstein, as Britain’s ambassador to Washington.
The Labour government, elected in a landslide in 2024, has also failed to deliver promised economic growth and ease a longstanding cost-of-living crisis.
With Post wires
