British Prime Minister (PM) Keir Starmer has announced his resignation as leader of the Labour Party, saying he had heard his party’s answer on whether he was best placed to lead it into the next general election and accepted it “with good grace”.
“I will resign as leader of the Labour Party,” Starmer said, adding that every decision he had taken was about “putting the country first”.
He said that he had also spoken to the King in the morning to inform him of his decision.
Starmer has asked the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party to open leadership nominations on July 9, with the process completed before the summer recess. This would put a new leader in place before parliament returns in September.
While he will remain in post as the premier until a successor is chosen, Starmer said that he would do everything he could to ensure an orderly handover, and pledged his full support to whoever comes next.
They would be inheriting a Britain that is “stronger and fairer than two years ago”, he added.
Starmer closed by thanking colleagues who had stood by him for six years, as well as No 10 staff and the civil service.
It may be noted that his resignation comes after pressure from within Labour reached a tipping point following Andy Burnham’s by-election win on Friday.
Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor, returned to Westminster after beating a candidate from Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party, which has led national opinion polls for over a year.
His win convinced Labour MPs that the party needed new leadership to remain competitive.
Starmer becomes the sixth prime minister in a decade to leave Downing Street before their term was up.
