Keir Starmer resigns as UK Prime Minister, leadership contest awaits

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced his resignation on Monday, with a new leader to be in place by the time parliament returns in September, paving the way for Britain to have its seventh leader in 10 years.

Less than two years after he won a landslide election victory that promised to end chaos in British politics, Starmer said it was clear that his party wanted him to go.

He said nominations for anyone to replace him would open on July 9.

"The question my party is asking now is whether I am best placed to lead us into the next general election," Starmer said, as senior ministerial colleagues looked on.

"I have heard the answer of my parliamentary party to that question, and I accept that answer with good grace.

"Every decision I have taken has been about putting the country I love first. That is why I will resign as leader of the Labor Party," he added.

Starmer thanked his colleagues for their support, his voice cracking with emotion as he also paid tribute to his wife and children.

The speech, on the steps of Downing Street, came just days after Starmer insisted he would fight any leadership battle.

The threat to Starmer, which had been building for months, increased sharply on Friday when Andy Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor, decisively won a parliamentary election to return to Westminster, beating a candidate from Nigel Farage's Reform UK party, which has led national opinion polls for more than a year.

That victory gave hope to Labour lawmakers that Burnham could transform the fortunes of a party that has lost support under Starmer, whose popularity ratings have sunk to the lowest for any British leader.

Meanwhile, British former health minister Wes Streeting said in a letter on Monday he would back Burnham to replace Starmer.

Streeting had previously said he would challenge any leadership contest.

The pound and British government bonds were steady in the immediate aftermath of Starmer's announcement, which investors had widely expected.

Whoever replaces Starmer will become Britain's seventh prime minister since the Brexit vote to leave the European Union which took place 10 years ago this week.

That level of turnover - the highest in Britain in nearly two centuries - underlines the struggle of maintaining the support of voters angry at successive failures to improve living standards, public services and tackle illegal immigration.

The political advisory group Eurasia had said the best outcome could be for Starmer to say he will step down in September, enabling him to attend a UK-European Union reset summit in July and give Burnham time to prepare for government.