- Starmer could announce the timetable for departure as early as Monday
- Ministers and lawmakers are calling on him to step aside.
- Andy Burnham, who has just returned to Parliament, is the main challenger.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer considered his political future on Sunday after rival Andy Burnham’s decisive parliamentary election victory prompted several ministers in the ruling Labor Party to call for him to step down.
Struggling with some of the lowest popularity ratings of any British leader in modern political history, Starmer could decide as soon as Monday whether to step aside or fight a leadership contest against Burnham, a source said.
The scale of the victory Burnham won for a parliamentary seat in north-west England on Friday has piled pressure on Starmer, with dozens of lawmakers and some ministers privately urging him to set a timetable for his departure to clear the way for the former mayor of Greater Manchester.
A source with knowledge of the matter said Starmer spent the weekend thinking about and discussing his position with his family, but that an expected conversation with Burnham would clarify the matter.
“Keir likes to think things over,” the source said.
Adding to the pressure on Starmer, US President Donald Trump predicted on his Truth Social platform that “Keir Starmer will resign as UK Prime Minister”.
Trump then reiterated his view that Starmer had “failed miserably” to reduce immigration and increase North Sea oil production.
Starmer’s unpopularity was exposed by Labour’s heavy loss in May’s local elections, and polls among party members suggest Burnham would win a formal leadership contest.
Should Burnham take the helm, he would become Britain’s seventh prime minister in the past 10 years.
Starmer’s position is threatened
Sky News reported that it understood Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper had called on Starmer to step down in a private retreat over the weekend. Her spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Her apparent appeal, along with other ministers and dozens of lawmakers, added to the sense that it is now a case of when, rather than if, Starmer would step aside.
Starmer said only a few days ago that he would stand in any formal Labor leadership contest that sought to replace him.
While Starmer’s team believes his landslide victory in the 2024 national election gives him the mandate to stay in post until 2029, Business Secretary Peter Kyle said the prime minister was reflecting on “the political challenges that he faces at this moment”.
Kyle said he had spoken to Starmer on Friday and had found a man who questioned what “the country expected of him”. The call showed Starmer was in “very difficult circumstances”, the business minister said.
“So I won’t deny the political challenges he faces at this moment, but what I also won’t do is say there’s ever anything inevitable about the days ahead,” Kyle said. LBC radio.
Starmer’s position is uncertain.
Burnham’s landslide victory over the populist Reform UK party to take the parliamentary seat of Makerfield prompted several lawmakers and ministers to press the prime minister to set a timetable for his departure to avoid what could be a divisive leadership race.
The team backing Burnham, a 56-year-old career politician, had said they were giving Starmer the weekend to consider his position in the hope he would plan an orderly transition of power.
There was still no indication that the two had spoken.
Former minister Jess Phillips – who is a supporter of Health Secretary Wes Streeting, another potential challenger to Starmer – told BBC that “it feels like we’ve reached the end of the road” and that it would be best for Starmer’s departure to be “as dignified as possible”.
