United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday announced his decision to resign from the top office after facing increasing criticism from his own party and cabinet, and a challenge from his party colleague and rival Andy Burnham, who just won his way to the UK parliament with a thumping majority. This complete turnaround of Starmer’s leadership comes just two years after he led the Labour Party to a landslide victory in the UK after 14 years of not being in power.
Starmer said his party asked him whether he was “best placed” to lead it till the next general elections. “I have heard the answer, and I accept it with good grace,” he said. “I will resign as leader of the Labour Party,” Starmer stated in a tearful speech.
Earlier, most reports of Starmer stepping down had come from statements and intentions made clear by some of his cabinet members, fellow party MPs and those aware of the developments, but not directly from him.
In fact, before leaving for Chequers, on Friday, Starmer even said, “I have said repeatedly, I am not going to walk away. Let’s pull together as a party and a movement.”
With Starmer’s move to step down, the UK is now set to get its seventh Prime Minister.
The person most expected to replace Starmer is Labour Party’s Andy Burnham, whose thumping victory in a special election in Makerfield on Friday cleared the path for him to challenge the Prime Minister, which not won’t happen. The victory had also reportedly triggered discussions between Starmer and his allies about whether he could win a challenge against Burnham or not.
What put more pressure on Starmer was the magnitude of Burnham’s victory in the byelection, where he comfortably defeated candidate Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party and also Restore Britain, with around 10,000 more votes than both of these parties combined.
Several Labour Party MPs believe that Burnham is the right candidate to take on Farage in the 2029 general elections.
However, it remains uncertain whether Burnham would win power through coronation or a leadership challenge, a decision which is up to Labour MPs. Starmer’s health secretary, Wes Streeting, who resigned last month as he lost faith in Starmer’s leadership, has hinted that he would run if there is a leadership contest.
The calls Starmer was facing to resign were mostly from his own party MPs and cabinet members, who grew dissatisfied with his authority and leadership. This was particularly triggered by the Labour Party’s crushing electoral defeat in a series of elections in May.
Since, UK’s transport secretary Heidi Alexander, foreign secretary Yvette Cooper, home secretary Shabana Mahmood, energy secretary Ed Miliband had urged Starmer to work on a timeline for his exit or resign immediately, BBC reported. Several other MPs also made similar demands.
A cabinet minister, who was ready to resign, had said on Sunday, “There was a view that resignations would be required if Keir’s public view – that he’d fight any challenge – remained his private view. But in the last 12 to 14 hours, a shift appears to have taken place in his mind. No one wants rolling resignations,” reported the Guardian.
Speculations about whether Starmer would resign or not had taken a stern turn after his business secretary Peter Kyle said on Sunday that the Prime Minister was reflecting on “political realities”.
“He has been engaging conversations with a wide, wide range of people, including myself. As well as working really hard over this weekend. I think he is making time to reflect on the political realities, challenges, and opportunities that he finds himself in,” he told Sky News on Sunday.
In another interview to BBC, Kyle confirmed that there was a clear threat to Starmer’s leadership and said, “I don’t want to come on here and be delusional that there is no process, there are no forces at work which are challenging the prime minister as leader – that is clearly the case.”
Amid all the drama unfolding in the United Kingdom, United States President Donald Trump had also chipped in and said in a social media post that Keir Starmer “will resign” as the Prime Minister of the UK. He also listed out the reasons why thinks the resignation might be coming, saying that Starmer failed on two fronts — immigration and energy — both of which Trump has a hardline stance on.
“Keir Starmer will resign as Prime Minister of The United Kingdom. He failed badly on two very important subjects- IMMIGRATION AND ENERGY (OPEN NORTH SEA OIL!). I wish him well! President DJT,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Trump’s remarks come even as he has not spoken to Starmer over the weekend.
Ever since Starmer came to power with a landslide victory in 2024 and promised to bring major changes in how the country is functioning, he has struggled to deliver on several fronts such as economic growth, tattered public services, cost of living, among others.
Additionally, he suffered a major public and political setback after he appointed Peter Mandelson as UK’s ambassador to the United States, who later turned out to have ties with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein more than previously known. This also triggered resignation calls against Starmer, but he managed to stand his ground.
