A teary Keir Starmer has said he will stand down as Prime Minister less than two years after he swept to power in a historic Labour landslide.
Sir Keir spoke on the steps of Number 10 to confirm his departure after weeks of immense pressure from his party over dire poll ratings and a series of damaging mistakes.
After weeks of vowing to fight on, his authority was crushed by senior Cabinet resignations and the return to Parliament of rival Andy Burnham, who trounced Reform in the Makerfield by-election last week.
In an emotional speech from the Downing Street lectern, Sir Keir said: ‘The question my party is asking now is whether I am best placed to lead us into the general election.
‘I have heard the answer of my parliamenty party to that question. I accept that answer with good grace.
‘Every decision I have taken has been about putting the party I love first. That’s why I will resign as leader of the Labour Party.’
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Starmer’s announcement is the culmination of a premiership filled with missteps, blunders and unpopular decisions that started tanking his personal popularity soon after he entered Downing Street.
It has taken less than two years to get to this point after he secured the second-biggest landslide in the history of the Labour Party.
In his first speech in charge, he pledged to ‘deliver change’ for the British people and make them ‘believe again’ in politics as a force for good.
However within weeks the new Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced that winter fuel payments for pensioners will be scrapped for those not on benefits.
The decision was widely blamed for a collapse in public support for Labour and Sir Keir, neither of which could be saved by a U-turn on the policy almost 10 months later.
The government was soon derided for a string of U-turns on important issues, totalling as many as 13.
These included Rachel Reeves decision to raise National Insurance on employers despite the Labour manifesto counting it among the three taxes they would not put up.
The Prime Minister was also hit by a series of sleaze scandals which undermined his promise to return politics to ‘public service’.
He came under scrutiny after it was revealed he had received more than £100,000-worth of gifts, including football tickets, as well as failing to declare high-end clothes bought for his wife by a Labour donor.
The hammer blow was the scandal that erupted over Sir Keir’s decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as US Ambassador despite the Peer’s relationship to convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Despite removing the Labour big beast from the post, continued revelations about holes in the appointment process and Mandelson’s ties to Epstein meant the crisis failed to go away.
Labour’s local election drubbing in May, where they lost 1400 council seats, was the final straw for many Labour MPs, who have since rallied around Andy Burnham to take over.
The Prime Minister has also secured a number of long-term reforms in his short time in office.
They include popular measures to boost rights for private and social renters in England; the nationalisation of rail services across the UK; and the introduction of a lifetime ban on anyone born after 2008 buying cigarettes.
He also oversaw the rollout of age verification for adult material online through the Online Safety Act and announced a ban on social media for under-16s last week.
Sir Keir has also won praise for how he handled his relationship with volatile US President Donald Trump, and his continued support for Ukraine’s fight against Russia.
Will Andy Burnham become the next Prime Minister?
All eyes are on the former Manchester mayor after he stormed to victory in the Makerfield by-election.
He will be sworn into Parliament later today and it is believed he would easily obtain the backing of the 81 MPs needed to begin a leadership contest.
According to the New Statesman magazine, Burnham’s team is aiming to get the backing of as many as 200 other MPs – half of the Parliamentary Labour Party – to secure his position as the natural successor.
Other senior figures have warned against a coronation of Burnham, arguing anyone hoping to become the UK’s leader should be publicly tested.
Former Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who resigned from his post in the wake of last month’s elections, has said he wants a ‘battle of ideas’ about the future direction of the party.
Burnham remains the overwhelming favourite to win any contest, after demonstrating his ability to defeat Reform in Thursday’s by-election.
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