British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was reflecting this weekend on the “political realities” that he faces, a senior minister said yesterday, amid media reports he would resign within days.
It follows veteran Labour politician and rival Andy Burnham’s victory in a crunch by-election on Friday, which paves the way for the 56-year-old to challenge the beleaguered Starmer to be party leader and prime minister.
Any Labour leadership candidate must be a member of parliament.
Photo: Reuters
If Starmer does leave office this year, Britain would get its seventh prime minister in a decade — an unprecedented rate of churn in its modern history.
Burnham — Greater Manchester mayor since 2017 — has made clear he intends to bid to lead the slumping center-left party, warning in his by-election victory speech that it had a “final chance to change.”
If successful, he would become prime minister by default, given that ruling Labour has a huge parliamentary majority. Starmer, who is deeply unpopular with voters according to polling, has insisted he would fight any attempt to oust him.
However, the emphatic nature of Burnham’s win in the Makerfield constituency in northwest England — where he nearly doubled Labour’s majority — has increased the internal pressure on Starmer to quit.
British Secretary of State for Business and Trade Peter Kyle said yesterday that Starmer was “making time to reflect on the political realities, challenges and opportunities that he finds himself in.”
“He has been engaging in conversations with a wide, wide range of people,” Kyle told Sky News broadcaster after having what he said was a “frank” conversation with Starmer on Friday.
The Observer newspaper headlined on its cover yesterday that Starmer was “expected to resign” today, while the Sunday Telegraph also reported he was “ready” to go, citing allies of the embattled British leader.
The Observer said Starmer would “set out a timetable for his departure,” adding that he had been holding weekend talks from Chequers, the countryside retreat for prime ministers.
