Labour loses its leader as Starmer calls it quits
Written by Tilly Brown - 03 July 2026
After years in the political spotlight Sir Keir Starmer is stepping out of the centre stage. The prime minister announced his resignation last week, triggering a race to define Labour’s next chapter. As Starmer stood outside his digs (i.e.10 Downing Street) he gave an impassioned speech to the nation, highlighting how he believes he was not best placed to lead Labour into the 2028 general election.
After winning the 2024 general election by a landslide, Starmer officially entered Downing Street in July 2024. Since then, he has received gradual increasing pressure to step down accompanied by a huge decline in popularity. Starmer will now leave Downing Street as the shortest serving Labour prime minister in history.
During his speech he laid out his plans for leaving office in a bid to ensure an “orderly transition.” Nominations for Britain’s next prime minister open on July 9th to replace him. Starmer highlighted how his party questioned his leadership adding, “I have heard the answer of my parliamentary party to that question, and I accept that answer with good grace.” Starmer also stated that he will give his successor “my full and unequivocal support, knowing that they will inherit a Britain that is far stronger and fairer than the one I inherited two years ago.”
Now you may be wondering who the top contender to become the new leader of the Labour party is, and one name will more than likely ring a bell.
Andy Burnham, former Mayor of Greater Manchester, was voted in as MP by a landslide on the 18th June at the Makerfield by-election. This was a victory for Burnham, as not only does it mean he is the MP for Makerfield, he can now also run for prime minister. With Burnham currently set to run unopposed (no other candidate has yet stepped forward), and former health secretary, Wes Streeting, announcing his intention to back Burnham all the way, it already seems like a done deal.
The Labour party’s rulebook states that candidates need to be nominated by 81 MPs, as well as either 32 of Labour’s 634 local branches, or three organisations affiliated with the party. If more than one MP achieves this, the party members would have to vote to pick a winner before Parliament returns for its summer recess on September 1st.
But what is it that made Starmer step down? Well, in the May local elections the Labour party received a record election loss, with the party losing 1,496 councillors across England, losing control of 38 councils. As well as this loss, Starmer started to receive serious backlash after the Mandelson vetting scandal when it was announced that he had ties to convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein, with the release of the Epstein files revealing the pairs’ relationship. This led to people calling out Starmer on his decision to appoint Mandelson as US ambassador in December 2024.