Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer announces his resignation to the media outside 10 Downing Street in London, Monday, June 22, 2026. Photographer Kin Cheung
By The Associated Press
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Monday he is stepping down as leader of the governing Labour Party and will leave office within weeks, scarcely two years after being elected in a landslide. Starmer says he will remain caretaker prime minister until a new Labour leader is chosen by the party. Starmer is the sixth prime minister in a decade to announce a premature departure.
Starmer made the announcement after facing growing pressure to hand over to a new leader who can try to revive the government’s flagging fortunes. He led Labour to a landslide election victory in July 2024, but since then his popularity and that of the party have plummeted.
The formal contest to replace Starmer will begin in early July and could end in a matter of days. Starmer said Monday that nominations will open on July 9 and close when Parliament breaks up for its summer recess, which is scheduled to begin July 16. The contest will be open to members of Parliament from the ruling Labour Party.
Former Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham is the leading candidate to replace Starmer. The question now is whether anyone will challenge him.
In a post on X, Andy Burnham thanked Starmer for his service and leadership.
He said Starmer’s decision to step down “marks the beginning of a transition and it is important that this process is conducted in an orderly and responsible way. I will put myself forward as part of this process.”
“The country expects stability, seriousness and a continued focus on the issues that matter most and that is what it will get.”
He added: “People want to see progress on economic growth, cost of living, public services, housing and opportunities for the next generation. Political change should never distract from the responsibility to improve people’s lives.”
Dutiful rather than dynamic, Keir Starmer was elected Britain’s prime minister to be a safe pair of hands who would end years of political chaos under the Conservatives.
His term is ending less than two years later after missteps, party infighting and one colossal error of judgment that indirectly ensnared him in the scandals surrounding Jeffrey Epstein, a man he had never met and whose sexual crimes he was not complicit in.
A trouncing for Starmer’s Labour Party in a midterm set of local and regional elections on May 7 proved the final straw. It triggered a series of government resignations and challenges that look set to sweep former Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham into 10 Downing Street.
It’s a precipitous downfall from July 4, 2024, when Starmer brought the center-left Labour Party back to power after 14 years, winning 411 of the 650 seats in the House of Commons.
Former Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has confirmed he will run to succeed Keir Starmer as Labour leader and prime minister.
He posted on social media that he will “put myself forward as part of this process.”
Wes Streeting, considered another leading contender, said he will back Burnham.
That makes it more likely that Burnham will be selected without a leadership contest.
Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat Leader, said Starmer’s replacement would have to change “our broken politics.”
“The British people are sick of being let down by an endless merry-go-round of prime ministers while nothing really changes for them,” he said. “This time must be different. It can’t just be about changing who’s in No. 10, it has to be about changing our broken politics so we can fix our country.”
Zack Polanski, who leads the Green Party, echoed that the U.K. needs a “bold change of direction.” Referring to former Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, who many expect to become the next Labour leader, Polanski said: “The time for half measures and sticking plasters is long gone — if he becomes the next PM, Burnham must be bold or he will be bust.”
“The German government has always had in Keir Starmer a reliable and close partner in foreign policy questions, particularly regarding Ukraine,” Kornelius told reporters in Berlin. He declined to comment on the “internal motives in Britain.”
He said the government believes a meeting that Merz plans to host in Berlin Wednesday of the so-called “E5” – Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Poland – will go ahead as planned despite Starmer’s announcement. The meeting is meant as part of preparations for the upcoming NATO summit.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer stood behind a lectern featuring a crest with a lion and a unicorn.
One is not native to the U.K., and the other is mythical.
Both have shared the distinction of being part of the royal coat of arms since the 17th century.
The lion, although it never lived in the wild in England, is its national animal. The unicorn, though fictional, is Scotland’s official animal.
The two became part of the crest when the two crowns were united in 1603, as King James I ascended the English throne; he was already King James VI in Scotland.
When he was elected in 2024 in a landslide victory for Labour, Starmer pledged to steady the ship and end years of political chaos under his predecessors, the Conservative Party.
Starmer had succeeded Rishi Sunak, who held the top job from 2022 to 2024.
Before Sunak, Liz Truss resigned only 45 days after becoming prime minister. Truss followed three other Conservative prime ministers: Boris Johnson (2019 to 2022), Theresa May (2016 to 2019), and David Cameron (2010 to 2016).
The formal contest to replace Starmer will begin in early July and could end in a matter of days.
Starmer said Monday that nominations will open on July 9 and close when Parliament breaks up for its summer recess, which is scheduled to begin July 16. The contest will be open to members of Parliament from the ruling Labour Party.
Former Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham is the leading candidate to replace Starmer. The question now is whether anyone will challenge him.
If there is no challenge, Burnham could become Labour leader and thus prime minister soon after nominations close. Even if there is a contest, Starmer said a successor would be selected by Sept. 1.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen praised Starmer’s legacy after news of his resignation in a post online on Monday.
“It can take many leaders years to grow into the statesman you became in just two years,” she said on X. “European and Ukrainian security is stronger because of you. Thank you, dear Keir.”
The popular ex-mayor of Greater Manchester planned to challenge Starmer for the Labour leadership.
Starmer spent the weekend pondering his future following Burnham’ victory last week in a special election for a seat in Parliament. Burnham ran with the aim of challenging Starmer for leadership of the party and the country.
Burnham is due to be sworn in as a member of Parliament on Monday.
It’s unclear whether Burnham would face a coronation or a challenge, if Starmer steps aside. Wes Streeting, who resigned as health secretary last month to protest Starmer’s leadership, has said that he will run in a contest if there is one.
Starmer made the announcement outside the prime minister’s 10 Downing St. residence, his voice choking with emotion near the end of the brief statement.
“The question my party is asking now is whether I am best placed to lead us into the next general election,” Starmer said. “I have heard the answer of my parliamentary party to that question, and I accept that answer with good grace.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer says he is stepping down as leader of the governing Labour Party.
Starmer says he will remain caretaker prime minister until a new Labour leader is chosen in the next few weeks.
Starmer made the announcement after facing growing pressure to hand over to a new leader who can try and revive the government’s flagging fortunes. He has been in office since leading Labour to a landslide election victory in July 2024. In those two years his popularity and that of the party have plummeted.