Sir Keir Starmer has stepped down as leader of the Labour Party and will leave 10 Downing Street once his successor is in place. He has said he will remain as prime minister on a caretaker basis until the party completes its leadership process.
Why he resigned
Pressure had been mounting on Sir Keir for months. Poor approval ratings for both him and the party were compounded by a series of political setbacks and internal disputes. The release of documents by the US Department of Justice earlier this year intensified criticism over his decision to name Peter Mandelson as the UK’s ambassador to the United States.
Electoral disappointments also played a major role. A damaging by-election defeat in February saw Labour lose a previously safe seat to the Greens after Sir Keir blocked then-Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham from standing. The May local and national contests produced worse-than-expected results, prompting senior figures including health secretary Wes Streeting to resign and triggering a wider ministerial exodus.
Internal rows further weakened his authority. A prolonged disagreement within the party over defence spending led to the resignation of John Healey as defence secretary earlier in June. Andy Burnham’s decisive victory at the Makerfield by-election last week — which allowed him to return to Westminster — cleared the way for a formal leadership challenge.
Sir Keir initially said he would contest any challenge but concluded over the weekend that a majority of Labour MPs preferred a new leader to take the party into the next general election.
Leadership timetable and rules
An official party timetable for the contest has not yet been published. In his resignation remarks Sir Keir indicated potential contenders would have a window between 9 and 16 July to secure the necessary backers to stand.
Under Labour’s rulebook, candidates must be nominated by at least 81 Labour MPs and then either win the support of 32 of the party’s 634 local branches or be backed by three affiliated organisations, including at least two trade unions. If more than one candidate passes that threshold, party members and affiliated trade union supporters would vote to choose the new leader, with the aim of completing the process before Parliament returns from its summer recess on 1 September.
Who is standing and what might happen next
Andy Burnham has confirmed he will run and is widely seen as having more than enough support among Labour MPs to secure a place on the ballot. So far no other major candidate has declared, and Wes Streeting quickly ruled himself out and publicly backed Burnham. If no other MP meets the nomination threshold, Burnham would become leader unopposed and could enter Downing Street as prime minister as early as mid-July.
An uncontested transition has prompted calls from some Labour MPs for Burnham to set out more detailed policy plans, given he has been out of Westminster for nearly a decade. There are also questions about how an orderly handover will be managed in practice. Sir Keir had committed to publishing a defence spending plan ahead of a NATO leaders’ summit on 7 July, but its timing may now be affected by his resignation. An EU summit scheduled for 22 July, at which he was due to announce agreements intended to “reset” post‑Brexit ties with Europe, has already been postponed following his announcement.
What this means for government
Until a successor is formally installed, the government will be led by Sir Keir in a caretaker capacity. The leadership contest will determine the next direction for Labour and for the government’s immediate priorities. If Burnham becomes leader unopposed, the change of leadership could be swift, but ministers and officials will still have to manage commitments and diplomatic engagements delayed or reshaped by the transition.
