“I was told time and time again that my party was finished, that we were consigned to history, that a majority at the general election, let alone a landslide majority, was impossible. But we proved those people wrong,” Keir Starmer said, heralding his historic election victory just two years ago as he announced his resignation.
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Starmer announced that he would stand down after days of intense pressure from Labour MPs, including cabinet ministers, following Andy Burnham’s election as an MP. The former Greater Manchester mayor won a byelection in Makerfield last week, setting himself up to challenge Starmer, who has navigated an increasingly precarious premiership in recent months.
Starmer’s departure will now start a race among Labour MPs to become the UK’s seventh prime minister in 10 years, with Burnham in pole position to win. If he runs uncontested, he could be in Downing Street as soon as 16 July.
Calls for Starmer’s resignation began in February when Anas Sarwar, the party’s leader in Scotland, called for him to quit. Despite his poor personal approval ratings, he had seemed on firmer ground in recent months with his handling of the Middle East crisis and refusal to do Donald Trump’s bidding by taking the UK into war with Iran.
However, any respite was blown apart when the Guardian revealed in April that Peter Mandelson, his controversial pick to be UK ambassador to Washington, had been appointed despite failing his security vetting. Labour then suffered heavy losses in May’s local elections, losing control of councils in its heartlands across northern England and the Midlands.
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