UK PM Keir Starmer quits

LONDON: UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer nearly broke down as he found himself on the scrapheap of history on Monday when like Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss before him, he was booted out of No. 10 by his own MPs.After just two years in the job, having watched his authority within his party vanish following Andy Burnham’s resounding victory in the Makerfield byelection, the lectern came out in front of No. 10 and Starmer delivered his resignation speech, despite insisting earlier he wouldn’t resign.Reform UK chief Nigel Farage immediately called for a general election. Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” was blasted from a loudspeaker outside the gates by anti-Brexit campaigner Steve Bray, almost drowning out his words and making it seem like a funeral service.After a weekend of reflection at Chequers, on Monday, in front of No. 10 staff and hordes of press, Starmer said he was aware that his party did not think he was best placed to lead Labour into the next general election. “I have heard the answer and I accept that answer with good grace,” he said, explaining he had already told the King he was stepping down. Nominations for the Labour party leadership contest will open on July 9 and be completed by July 16. “I will give my successor my full support,” he said, adding he will remain as caretaker prime minister until a new PM is in place, which will happen before Sept 1 and could be much earlier.“When I leave the biggest job in the country, I will spend more time on the most important job: being the best husband I can to my fantastic wife Vic,” he said, his voice breaking and chin wobbling, “and being the best dad I can be to my beautiful children”. He then went to hug Victoria, as staff clapped. It was a rare moment that Starmer managed to connect with the public, something he had been unable to do throughout his time as PM, which caused Labour to sink in the polls and Reform UK to surge. Starmer has been polling as the most unpopular UK PM on record.The markets didn’t react as the resignation was expected. Ex-Tory MP Michael Gove had on Sunday described Starmer looking at the lawns at Chequers and seeing “Burnham Wood” marching towards Chequers, a parallel to Birnam Wood coming to Dunsinane, the prophecy that signalled Macbeth’s downfall.The cameras swiftly moved to Manchester where Andy Burnham was being mobbed by the press as he was boarding the 11.39 am train to London to be sworn in as the new Makerfield MP. Before boarding he had tweeted he planned to enter the leadership contest. Three minutes later ex-health secretary Wes Streeting, considered his main leadership challenger, tweeted that he backed Burnham and would not be standing. TV channels then filmed the train from helicopters as it reached Euston where the press were held back by police as Burnham arrived and was whisked off in a black cab to Parliament. Cambridge-educated Burnham, who would become Britain’s first Catholic PM, has built an alternative Labour brand in Manchester detached from the shenanigans at Westminster. Starmer, a former lawyer, is often described as stiff, managerial and process-driven, whilst Burnham is seen as more charismatic, relatable and emotionally intelligent.Throughout his tenure as Labour chief, Keir Starmer criticised the “Tory chaos”. But on Monday he became the second-shortest serving Labour PM ever, the first being Ramsay MacDonald who lasted nine months in 1924.The next UK PM will be the seventh in a decade. “The British people are sick of being let down by an endless merry-go-round of prime ministers while nothing really changes,” Ed Davey, Liberal Democrats chief, tweeted. Tory head Kemi Badenoch said: “The reason Keir Starmer resigned is because the former defence secretary said he is not looking after national security. If Andy Burnham doesn’t have any answers on national security, we should have a general election.”“Andy Burnham did not even stand at the last election on any manifesto at all. The great British public deserve to give their opinion,” Farage said, whose party is in the lead in the polls.“Andy Burnham won back a part of the country that only weeks ago had overwhelmingly rejected Labour, which shows if Labour changes we can still win a general election,” Streeting said, referring to Labour’s disastrous local election results when many seats went to Reform UK. It was those results and the recent scathing resignation letter of former defence secretary John Healey, Starmer’s misjudged appointment of Peter Mandelson as US ambassador, the unpopular inheritance tax on farmers, cutting of pensioners’ winter fuel allowance, the Chagos deal, scrapping of jury trials and a whole host of other policies and mistakes that ultimately led to Starmer’s downfall.