“I have heard the answer,” Keir Starmer said outside 10 Downing Street on Monday. “And I accept that answer with good grace.” With that he announced his resignation as prime minister and Labour leader, ending a premiership that began with the party’s landslide victory in July 2024.
He will stay on as caretaker prime minister until Labour picks a successor, according to the International Business Times. The party is expected to open a leadership contest on 9 July and aim to have a new leader by September.
Starmer’s statement
Starmer said many in the party no longer believed he was the best person to lead it into the next general election. He called walking up Downing Street two years ago “the proudest moment of my life” and said he had inherited a party that was “politically, financially and morally bankrupt.” He said he had rebuilt public trust on the economy, defence and national security, and had succeeded in “ripping out the poison of anti-Semitism” from Labour.
He thanked his wife, Victoria, and said he wanted to be “the best dad I can be to my beautiful children.”
BBC political correspondent Nick Eardley called it extraordinary that a prime minister with such a decisive election win was leaving so soon.
Burnham in the frame
All eyes turned to Andy Burnham. He won the Makerfield by-election last week and was due to be sworn in at the Commons on Monday. Many Labour figures reportedly expect a “coronation”, with Burnham as the only serious candidate. Labour MP Anna Dixon said she hoped for a smooth handover rather than a long fight, pointing to Burnham’s decades in politics, past cabinet experience and nine years as Mayor of Greater Manchester.
No formal timetable has been set. Talk inside the party has centred on Burnham taking over around conference season, though some supporters want it faster.
Public polling had already pointed his way. An Opinium survey of 2,051 UK adults, taken 6 to 8 May 2026, found 56 percent thought Starmer should resign and 26 percent thought he should stay. Asked who should replace him, 18 percent chose Burnham, 5 percent Angela Rayner and 4 percent Ed Miliband. Burnham was the only Labour figure with a positive net acceptability rating, at +20. Opinium noted at the time that he was not an MP and had no easy route back to the Commons.
Sources
- Voting intention: 6th May 2026 – Opinium
- Keir Starmer Resigns as PM and Labour Leader, With Andy Burnham Emerging as Likely Successor
