The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Keir Starmer, could announce this Monday a schedule for his departure from both the Government and the leadership of his party, the Labor Party. It is not known if the daisy is still defoliating or if the decision has already been made and it remains to be clarified how it is transmitted. The key, say the local press, would be to bring about an orderly transition of power, possibly to his most prominent rival, Andy Burnham, paving the way for Britain’s seventh leader in a decade. Crazy to have an absolute majority in Parliament.
Less than two years after Starmer’s landslide election victory, which promised to end Britain’s political chaos, a source said he had spent the weekend weighing whether to resign or run in the leadership race. “Keir likes to reflect,” the source told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
The threat to Starmer, which had been brewing for months, increased dramatically on Friday when Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester, overwhelmingly won the parliamentary election to return to Westminster, defeating a candidate from Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party (one of the biggest proponents, lie for lie, of Brexit), who had led national opinion polls for more than a year.
That victory gave hope to Labor MPs that Burnham, a career politician known for his communication skills, could transform the course of a party that has lost support under the leadership of Starmer, whose popularity has fallen to the lowest level of any British leader.
But the widely expected change of leader is not without risks. Beyond stating that the country needs fundamental change and reducing the cost of living, Burnham has not yet clearly defined her approach to foreign policy, economics and defense.
Larry, the Downing Street cat, sleeps between the press and security, waiting for Keir Starmer’s resignation, on June 22, 2026.
Like Starmer, he could find himself with little room to maneuver, cornered by bond market investors who oppose any additional borrowing and facing a disaffected electorate that believes the country is not functioning properly.
The UK already has the highest borrowing costs in the Group of Seven (G7) due to its high debt and high interest payments, years of anemic economic growth, its difficulties in cutting spending and the need to invest in areas such as defence.
Investors polled by the BBC and Reuters were divided over whether Burnham, who said last September that Britain should “get over this situation of being indebted to the bond markets,” would respect the need to reassure markets. He has since stated that his words were misinterpreted.
“In our view, a Burnham government would inherit a precarious fiscal situation with few tools to effect meaningful change,” Citibank economists said Friday.
Against any challenge
Starmer had declared on Friday that he would stand in any formal Labor Party leadership contest seeking to replace him. Former Health Minister Wes Streeting also claimed to have the backing of the 81 Labor MPs needed to enter the leadership contest, but a senior party figure said they believed Streeting could strike a deal with Burnham, giving her a top job if she stayed out of the race.
Although Starmer’s team believes his landslide victory in the 2024 national election gives him the mandate to remain in office until 2029, Trade Minister Peter Kyle said on Sunday that the prime minister was reflecting on “the political challenges he faces at the moment.”
If he premier announce a timetable for his resignation from Downing Street on Monday, he would be the last leader to do so. Burnham, if elected, would become the seventh British prime minister since the Brexit referendum, which took place ten years ago (tomorrow is the anniversary of the endorsement, precisely). This level of succession – the highest in the country in almost two centuries – highlights the difficulty of maintaining the support of voters, outraged by successive failures in improving living standards, public services and the fight against illegal immigration.
Political advisory group Eurasia said the best option would be for Starmer to announce his resignation in September, which would allow him to attend the UK-European Union (EU) realignment summit in July and give Burnham time to prepare for the Government.
