UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced he will step down as Labour Party leader, triggering a contest to elect his successor as Prime Minister.
Speaking outside 10 Downing Street, Sir Keir said he had accepted that he was “not best placed to lead the Labour Party into the next general election” after hearing feedback from his parliamentary party.
“The question my party is asking now is whether I am the right person to lead them into the next general election. I have heard the answer of my parliamentary party to that question and I accept that answer with good grace,” he said.
Sir Keir said every decision he made was “about putting the country I love first,” which was why he would resign as Labour leader. He revealed he had spoken to His Majesty the King that morning to inform him of his decision.
He will remain Prime Minister until the leadership contest concludes. Starmer asked the Labour Party’s National Executive Committee to set a timetable with nominations opening on July 9 and the process completed by the summer recess, ensuring a new leader is in place before Parliament returns in September.
In a personal note, Starmer said that after leaving “the biggest job in the country,” he would focus on “the most important job”: being the best husband to his wife Victoria, “who has been a rock by my side through good times and bad,” and the best father to his children, “who are my pride and my joy.”
This comes less than two years since UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer won a landslide election victory. The country is now set for a seventh different prime minister in the decade since the Brexit vote.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
