Starmer to quit as Labour leader, triggering race for next prime minister

Keir Starmer said he will step down as Labour leader, setting up a contest that will determine Britain’s next prime minister.

Speaking outside Downing Street, Starmer said he had accepted he was not the right person to lead Labour into the next general election and had informed the King of his decision to step down. He said he would remain prime minister until the party completes the process of choosing a successor.

The timetable outlined by Starmer would see nominations open on 9 July and close by the summer recess on 16 July. If there is a contest, he said, Labour would have a new leader in place before Parliament returns in September, and he would do everything he could to ensure an “orderly” transition.

The announcement marks a sharp political turn for a prime minister who entered Downing Street on 5 July 2024 after Labour’s landslide election victory. Starmer, who became Labour leader in April 2020, is set to leave office as the shortest-serving Labour prime minister in history. His departure also means the UK is heading toward its seventh prime minister since 2016.

Starmer said Labour MPs had asked whether he was best placed to lead the party into the next election. “I have heard the answer of my parliamentary party to that question, and I accept that answer with good grace,” he said.

The succession race began taking shape quickly. Andy Burnham, fresh from a win over Reform UK in the Makerfield by-election, announced that he would stand for the Labour leadership. Wes Streeting, the former health secretary who had been seen as a potential rival, said he would support Burnham after talks between the two men.

Starmer used his resignation statement to defend his record in government, including on employment rights, immigration and child poverty, and said he had changed Labour after inheriting a party he described as “politically, financially and morally bankrupt.” He said his successor would have his “full and unequivocal support.”

Political opponents moved quickly to frame the moment as larger than a Labour leadership change. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch criticised Starmer’s record, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said Britain was tired of a “merry-go-round” of prime ministers, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage called for a general election, and Green Party leader Zack Polanski said the country needed a “bold change of direction.”

The immediate question now is whether Burnham faces a contested race, and how quickly Labour can settle on a new leader before MPs return to Westminster in September.