Keir Starmer has ended his political career as Britain’s prime minister after announcing his resignation from the balcony of his office in Downing Street, London, following weeks of pressure. He had spent two years in office as both prime minister and leader of the Labour Party.
Starmer brought Labour to its second-largest electoral victory in history in the general election two years ago, and in his first speech as leader he promised to “make change” for the British people and help them “believe again” in politics as a force for good. But the government’s popularity collapsed quickly, and recent municipal elections showed a sharp decline in support for Labour.
A report by the British newspaper Metro said his government suffered setbacks on 13 key issues, which helped drive down its standing in public and produced heavy losses for Labour in last month’s local elections. Political observers say five main factors explain the crash.
Those factors included Rachel Reeves’s decision, soon after Labour’s victory, to scrap winter fuel payments for pensioners who do not receive benefits, a move later reversed but politically damaging. Reeves also raised employers’ national insurance contributions, despite Labour’s election platform listing them among three taxes the party would not increase. Starmer also faced corruption scandals, including more than £100,000 in gifts such as football tickets and undeclared luxury clothing bought for his wife by a Labour donor.
The final blow was his decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as Britain’s ambassador to the United States despite Mandelson’s links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Labour’s crushing defeat in May’s local elections, when it lost 1,400 council seats, convinced many Labour MPs, who have since rallied around Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, that the end had come.
