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Keir Starmer announces resignation as UK prime minister
+969 words added -744 words removed
− By
The Associated Press
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer and wife Victoria stand in front of 10 Downing Street door after speaking to the media in London, Monday, June 22, 2026.
+ Lauren Frayer
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer gives a speech outside 10 Downing Street announcing his resignation following mounting political pressure in London, on Monday.
− Kin Cheung/AP hide caption
LONDON — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Monday he is stepping down as leader of the governing Labour Party and will leave office within weeks, scarcely two years after being elected in a landslide.
+ Wiktor Szymanowicz/Future Publishing via Getty Images hide caption
LONDON — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has resigned as leader of the United Kingdom's governing Labour Party, clearing a path for the country's seventh prime minister in a decade.
− Here's what comes next Starmer says he will remain caretaker prime minister until a new Labour leader is chosen by the party.
Starmer made the announcement after facing growing pressure to hand over to a new leader who can try and revive the government's flagging fortunes.
He led Labour to a landslide election victory in July 2024, but since then his popularity and that of the party have plummeted.
His departure was triggered by the victory of Andy Burnham in a special election last week.
+ Here's what comes next Starmer says he will remain as caretaker prime minister until his party selects a new leader.
− The popular ex-mayor of Greater Manchester planned to challenge Starmer for the Labour leadership.
+ Nominations begin July 9.
− Starmer made the announcement outside the prime minister's 10 Downing St.
+ The popular former mayor of Greater Manchester, England — Andy Burnham — confirmed on social media that he'll seek to succeed Starmer.
− residence, his voice choking with emotion near the end of the brief statement.
"The question my party is asking now is whether I am best placed to lead us into the next general election," Starmer said.
+ Another contender, former U.K.
− "I have heard the answer of my parliamentary party to that question, and I accept that answer with good grace.
+ Health Secretary Wes Streeting, posted a letter saying he will back Burnham's bid. So Burnham could run for the Labour Party leadership — and ultimately prime minister — uncontested, and enter office in late July.
− Starmer is the sixth prime minister in a decade to stand outside 10 Downing Street and announce a premature departure.
+ Andy Burnham, Labour member of Parliament for Makerfield, England, celebrates after his swearing-in at the Houses of Parliament on Monday, in London.
− It comes the day before Britain marks the 10th anniversary of its vote to leave the European Union, a decision that still roils the country's economy and politics.
+ Dan Kitwood/Getty Images hide caption
The center-left Labour Party was elected two years ago with a landslide majority in the U.K. Parliament. Since then, Starmer's personal approval ratings have slumped to a historic low. Polls show voters believe he failed to deliver palpable change after austerity and budget cuts under 14 years of previous Conservative Party rule. He was also criticized for appointing Peter Mandelson, a close friend of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as British ambassador to Washington.
− Starmer spent the weekend pondering his future following Burnham' victory last week in a special election for a seat in Parliament.
+ The next parliamentary elections aren't expected for another three years.
− Burnham ran with the aim of challenging Starmer for leadership of the party and the country.
+ But in recent weeks, as a populist new anti-immigration party has climbed in the polls, fellow Labour lawmakers began calling for Starmer's ouster.
− Burnham is due to be sworn in as a member of Parliament on Monday.
Scores of journalists gathered in the street outside the famous black door of No.
+ "The question my party is asking now, is whether I am best placed to lead us into the next general election," Starmer said in a tearful speech Monday outside 10 Downing Street.
− 10 Downing St.
+ "I have heard the answer of my parliamentary party to that question, and I accept the answer with good grace."
Starmer defended his record, citing increased government spending on defense and healthcare, and a decrease in undocumented migration into the U.K.
− on Monday morning, primed for an announcement that had not been confirmed.
It's unclear whether Burnham would face a coronation or a challenge, if Starmer steps aside.
+ He said he would give his successor "full and unequivocal support, knowing they will inherit a Britain that is far stronger and fairer than the one I inherited."
As Starmer spoke, protesters nearby blasted Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" — the European Union's anthem.
− Wes Streeting, who resigned as health secretary last month to protest Starmer's leadership, has said that he will run in a contest if there is one.
+ Tuesday is the 10th anniversary of Britons' referendum vote to leave the EU — Brexit. That choice triggered a shrinking of the British economy, and contributed to a revolving door of prime ministers.
− Discontent with the prime minister has been building for months, with Labour lawmakers desperate to reverse the government's decline in popularity since Starmer led the center-left party to a landslide election victory in July 2024.
+ Britain was still ailing from the global financial crisis of 2008, when it decided to leave the EU, compounding economic damage, says John McTernan, former political secretary to Prime Minister Tony Blair, a former Labour Party leader.
− He has struggled to deliver promised economic growth, repair tattered public services and ease the cost of living, and has been hamstrung by repeated missteps, including his decision to appoint Peter Mandelson, a scandal-tarnished friend of Jeffrey Epstein, as the U.K.
+ "This is a period in which Britain has done the most harm to itself, by leaving the European Union," McTernan says.
− ambassador to the United States.
+ "If you hadn't had a pay raise in 20 years, you might be getting angry. And that anger — which I think is righteous anger — turns itself on the government, and the governing class."
That has translated into public support for far-right parties, he said, including the upstart anti-immigrant Reform UK party, led by Nigel Farage, an on-again, off-again friend of President Trump.
− Labour is losing liberal voters to the growing Green Party and facing a rising Reform UK, the Nigel Farage -led anti-immigration party that consistently leads in nationwide opinion polls.
U.S.
+ In May, Reform swept local municipal elections across England, winning votes in working-class post-industrial areas that traditionally voted Labour.
− President Donald Trump weighed in even before an announcement, linking Starmer's potential exit to two of his recurring bugbears: immigration and renewable energy.
+ Some polls predict Farage could be the next prime minister.
− "Keir Starmer will resign as Prime Minister of The United Kingdom.
+ "That has frightened all of British politics, particularly the Labour Party.
− He failed badly on two very important subjects- IMMIGRATION AND ENERGY (OPEN NORTH SEA OIL!).
+ A sense of emergency about that has led to them removing a man who is very decent, tries his best, but is incredibly unpopular," says Polly Toynbee, a Labour insider who writes a column for the Guardian newspaper.
− I wish him well!
+ "He hasn't done anything dreadful, hasn't taken the country into a war.
− President DJT," Trump posted on his social media platform.
+ He was there because people wanted a change from the Conservatives, not because there was great enthusiasm for him."
Burnham served as a Labour member of Parliament from 2001 to 2017, representing a district near Manchester, and serving in the governments of then-Prime Ministers Blair and Gordon Brown. Then Burnham quit Parliament and returned home. As mayor of Greater Manchester, he has brought economic growth and development to once-blighted, post-industrial areas.
− Consider This from NPR How the Epstein files are upending U.K.
+ After Reform's success in May municipal elections, Labour lawmakers began calling for Starmer's ouster, but there was no clear successor.
− politics It was unclear whether Trump was responding to media reports about Starmer's plans.
+ So in a coordinated move, a fellow Labour lawmaker resigned, allowing Burnham to run in a June 18 special election for a parliamentary seat in Makerfield, suburban Manchester.
− The two leaders didn't speak over the weekend.
+ Burnham won decisively.
− Starmer's initially warm relationship with the president has soured in recent months over issues including the Iran war, which the U.K.
+ "He beat [Reform] overwhelmingly, in a place where they had just recently won all of the local council seats.
− didn't join.
+ So it seems that Andy Burnham is the only man who has the touch in areas like that, to take on Reform UK," Toynbee notes.
− In contrast to missteps on the domestic front, Starmer has won praise for his international role, notably in rallying European support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia's invasion, and working to mitigate the economic and political turmoil unleashed by the Iran conflict.
+ Burnham arrived in London by train from Manchester on Monday afternoon, and was sworn into Parliament — making him eligible, as a new member of Parliament, to replace Starmer.
− While many Labour lawmakers have rallied behind Burnham, some have said that Starmer had been treated unfairly.
+ The Eurasia Group, a political risk firm, predicts Burnham will take office on July 18 or 19, five days ahead of a scheduled U.K.-EU summit.
Consider This from NPR How the Epstein files are upending U.K.
− London legislator Neil Coyle railed on X against "the prospect of an utter stitch-up & the media circus being rewarded.
+ politics But analysts say he'll face many of the same issues that stymied Starmer: rising global energy prices tied to the U.S. and Israeli war on Iran, and uncertainty over how to liaise with an often-volatile, unpredictable Trump administration.
− "When the next leader cannot change Trump, Iran, Ukraine, Putin, Musk, broadcast editorial & algorithm bias overnight they'll bay for his blood too.
+ "I think the chances of him staying very popular for long are small.
− Better keep that guillotine sharp," he wrote.
+ The headwinds are enormous — heavy debt, very difficult to raise more tax, our public services are threadbare," Toynbee says. "So he does face high expectations, and great difficulties."
"For Labour, Burnham will be the last throw of the dice," she says.