British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced that he is resigning as leader of the governing Labour Party and will leave office within weeks. This move comes around two years after he was elected in a landslide victory. He is the sixth prime minister to resign in the past decade. Andy Burnham, the outgoing mayor of Manchester, England, is likely to be his successor.
Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer makes a statement on his future outside 10 Downing Street on the morning of June 22, 2026, in London.
Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images
- 🎧 Part of Starmer’s challenge was his failure to connect with people and to deliver the real change he promised after 14 years of austerity under the previous Conservative rule, NPR’s Lauren Frayer tells Up First. In recent weeks, Starmer’s own Labour lawmakers and parliamentary party began to turn against him. Burnham is viewed as more folksy and could be more relatable with voters in a way Starmer was not. He is also likely slightly to the left of Starmer and more inclined to robustly defend the welfare state. Burnham will face the same challenges that Starmer did, including rising global energy prices and strained public finances. Frayer says this shift represents more of a change in personality rather than policy, given that they belong to the same party.
