Keir Starmer announces he will resign as UK prime minister
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced on June 22 that he will resign, less than two years after leading Labour to a landslide general election win in 2024. “The question my party is asking now is whether I am best placed to lead us into the next general election. I have heard the answer,” he said, acknowledging the pressure that had built among Labour MPs after a string of policy reversals and a decisive by-election defeat to Andy Burnham.
Starmer will remain as caretaker prime minister during the contest to replace him. Labour has set nominations to open on July 9, with a new leader — and prime minister — expected to be in place by the time parliament returns in September. Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor who won the recent by-election, is the early front-runner.
The resignation removes the leader who took Labour back to power after 14 years of Conservative government, and it hands the party a summer leadership fight that will determine the direction of British policy without a general election. Because the governing party simply replaces its leader, the next prime minister will take office through an internal vote rather than a national one.