Starmer resigns as Prime Minister ‘with good grace’ – Daily Business

Sir Keir Starmer has resigned as Prime Minister, stating in an emotional address outside 10 Downing Street that he had accepted the answer to his future “with good grace”.

Nominations for a new leader will open on 9 July and will be completed by the summer recess. He will continue to lead the country until the new leader is installed in September.

Sir Keir, who swept into office with a landslide victory two years ago, said he had inherited a Labour Party that was “politically, financially and morally bankrupt”. He was told “time and time again” that the party was “finished”, but said he “proved those people wrong”.

He said: “Walking up Downing Street two years ago was the proudest moment of my life”. He had come into politics for the chance to change the lives of millions of people for the better.

He listed his achievements, perhaps to remind those who have toppled him of what they may have overlooked in demanding his departure.

These included restoring trust in the economy, defence and national security, rising investment and protecting young people.

He said the question his party has asked was whether he is best placed to lead it into the next general election. He said he “accepts that answer with good grace…I will resign as leader of the Labour Party.”

As he finished his speech he hugged his wife Lady Victoria who came across to greet him and they posed sullen-faced at the door before returning inside.

The question now turns to who will replace him, with Andy Burnham hoping to be unopposed, while former Health Secretary Wes Streeting is yet to declare his intentions.

Mr Burnham will be sworn in as an MP today following his success in last week’s Makerfield by-election.

Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, is also expected to leave her post amid a campaign to stop Energy Security Secretary Ed Miliband from succeeding her.

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said: “The British people are sick of being let down by an endless merry-go-round of prime ministers while nothing really changes.

“This time must be different. It can’t just be about changing who’s in Number 10, it has to be about changing our broken politics so we can fix our country.”

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