Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced on Monday he would resign as the leader of his party and as prime minister, setting the stage for the United Kingdom’s seventh prime minister within a decade.
Starmer, who said he spoke on Monday with King Charles, said he expected to remain in office until a successor was chosen from within his Labour Party.
“The question my party is asking now is whether I am best placed to lead us into the next general election,” he said outside 10 Downing Street. “I have heard the answer of my parliamentary party to that question, and I accept that answer with good grace.”
Starmer, who had led Labour since 2020, was elected to lead the country in a general election 2024. His replacement is expected to be chosen by his party.
Starmer said he asked party leaders to open nominations for a successor on July 9. He did not give a date for his departure from 10 Downing Street, but said he expected a new prime minister to be in place by September, when Parliament returns from its summer recess.
The resignation announcement followed months of turmoil for Starmer, with some members of his own party criticizing his leadership, saying he had not been able to deliver the rapid change needed after taking office following 14 years of Conservative Party rule in Britain.
Many in Starmer’s Labour party had written to Starmer asking him to step down following local elections in May, which saw the party lose more than 1,000 seats on local councils, results that were widely interpreted as a repudiation by British voters of Labour’s performance under the prime minister’s leadership.
A formal challenge to his premiership had not yet begun as of Monday, but some members of his party have in recent weeks coalesced in public support of Andy Burnham, the former mayor of Greater Manchester, as his potential successor.
