Starmer resigns as UK PM after Labour rebellion, Burnham emerges as frontrunner

A rapid rise and fall

Keir Starmer entered Downing Street on 4 July 2024 after a landslide victory that gave Labour 411 seats and ended 14 years of Conservative rule. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said Starmer would be remembered for leading the "party from the brink, back to power." In his victory speech, Starmer spoke of renewal.

“And now we can look forward. Walk into the morning, the sunlight of hope, pale at first but getting stronger through the day, shining once again, on a country with the opportunity after 14 years to get its future back.”

But the optimism faded quickly. Starmer inherited a struggling economy and public finances battered by COVID and the Ukraine war. His government's downbeat messaging and a decision to raise a tax on businesses, while ruling out income or sales tax increases, deepened the gloom and sparked a consumer retrenchment. Local elections this spring delivered a thrashing for Labour, and calls for Starmer to step aside grew.

The final push

Burnham's victory in the Makerfield by-election on 19 June cleared his path back to parliament. Wes Streeting, who had quit Starmer's cabinet in May and was considered a rival, publicly backed Burnham on Monday.

“We could spend the summer exaggerating small differences, or we can roll up our sleeves and help him to deliver the change our party and our country needs.”

Facing a party revolt, Starmer addressed the nation from Downing Street, his voice breaking.

“The question that my party asks now is whether I am the best positioned to lead us to the next general elections.”

Burnham confirmed his candidacy in a social media post, and with Streeting's endorsement, he is expected to be selected without a contest.

A decade of turmoil

Starmer is the sixth prime minister to leave office in the last 10 years, the highest turnover rate in nearly two centuries. His departure comes on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the Brexit vote, a decision still rattling the economy. Historian Anthony Seldon warned of the stakes.

“If Andy Burnham fails as prime minister, the outlook for Britain is bleak.”

Jill Rutter of the Institute for Government linked the instability not just to Brexit but to the 2008 financial crash and a long stagnation in living standards.

“There has just been a general sense that we don't see our lives getting better and we don't see the lives of our children getting better.”

Next steps

Starmer will stay on as caretaker until Labour selects a new leader. Nominations open on 9 July, close by mid-July, and a new prime minister would be in place by September. Burnham, when asked if he would call an immediate general election, said, "You're jumping several hurdles ahead there." The Reform UK leader Nigel Farage urged a snap poll, arguing Burnham "didn't even stand at the last election on any manifesto at all." Streeting meanwhile told the BBC that Burnham had not offered him any cabinet role, dismissing speculation of a pre-arranged finance minister post.