Keir Starmer quits as UK PM, sixth leader in 10 years to step down :::: A "vital lesson" for Andy Burnham --- First impressions are everything

Keir Starmer quits as UK PM, sixth leader in 10 years to step down

Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced his resignation after months of pressure from Labour lawmakers, paving the way for a leadership contest as the United Kingdom prepares for its seventh leader in a little over a decade.  

Andy Burnham’s comprehensive victory in the Makerfield byelection, surpassing expectations, was a precious moment. He demolished £5m-Nigel Farage’s party of loathsome Reformers, whose every election candidate seems more repugnant than the last. 

Hostile hard-right politics in Britain needs defeating time and time again, every time nativists and hate-stirrers – from Enoch Powell to the BNP – erupt in our politics.

No one but Andy Burnham could have stamped out Reform in a part of Greater Manchester where it had just won every council seat only last month.  

Starmer stepped out of 10 Downing Street with his wife, Victoria, receiving cheers and applause, before delivering his resignation statement. He also recalled his arrival at Downing Street two years ago as "the proudest moment" of his life and said he entered politics with the aim of changing the lives of millions of people.

Reflecting on the Labour Party's landslide victory in the 2024 general election, Starmer highlighted what he described as the achievements of his government. He pointed to economic growth, rising wages, increased investment, infrastructure projects, falling NHS waiting lists, improved rights for workers and renters, higher defence spending, reduced small boat crossings and efforts to tackle child poverty.  

In his resignation speech, Starmer acknowledged that he no longer had the backing of enough Labour lawmakers to lead the party into the next general election, due in 2029.

"The question my party is asking now is whether I am best placed to lead us into the next general election. 

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

The announcement marked a dramatic reversal for Starmer, who had spent weeks insisting he would fight any challenge to his leadership. Reports suggested he spent the weekend at his country residence reflecting on his future as support within Labour continued to ebb away.

The first 100 days of Starmer regime saw much good done: 

- rail nationalised, 

- bills introduced to improve renters’ and workers’ rights, 

- bus services freed up to local control, free school breakfast clubs rolled out, good public-sector pay deals, 

- and restrictions on onshore windfarms ended. 

But so much of what his government accomplished was visible only to political obsessives.

But what did catch the public eye, just a month into power, was that 

unexpected cut in pensioners’ winter fuel allowance: 

cue stock images in the minds of voters of cold old folk wrapped in blankets. 

If only they had abolished the two-child benefit cap the same day, an old-to-young swap would have resonated well. The other eye-catcher was making farmers pay inheritance tax on a level a bit closer to everyone else’s: cue picturesque tractor protests.  

Starmer always lacked a sense of political theatre, but reports of free suits, glasses and gig tickets offered all too vivid imagery, deeply damaging a new, clean regime. 

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