UK Political Shakeup Deepens as Starmer Quits as Prime Minister

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced he is stepping down, triggering the third case in four years of a sitting UK premier resigning. He made the announcement live outside 10 Downing Street and is expected to remain in office during a transition period until a new party leader is chosen.

According to The Telegraph, Starmer's departure could open the way for Andy Burnham, the former mayor of Greater Manchester, to become Britain's seventh prime minister in just over a decade. Since David Cameron, the office has also been held by Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak, and Starmer.

Starmer spent the previous weekend at Chequers, the prime minister's country residence, where he and his family weighed the political situation amid mounting pressure from his own party to leave. His premiership has been in decline for months, less than two years after he won the general election and replaced Sunak.

The current Labour crisis follows a series of failures and scandals that quickly eroded Starmer's authority. More than 100 MPs called on him to resign after last month's local election defeats. On his social media account, Donald Trump wrote that Starmer had "failed badly on two very important issues, immigration and energy," and added, "I wish him all the best."