Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Keir Starmer, announced his resignation on Monday (June 22, 2026), with a timetable of his expected departure from power, in a televised address from 10 Downing Street in London.
His resignation comes on the heels of his visit to the U.S. as part of the G7 Summit and discussions with leaders about the future of the wider crisis in West Asia.
Mr. Starmer is now the sixth PM to resign without completing their term after the country separated from the EU, a process acronymed as Brexit. Other names of leaders who resigned include Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak, and Liz Truss.
Starmer, a softly spoken former human rights lawyer, had been hailed as a pragmatic and serious leader who could restore stability after years of political chaos and infighting that resulted in two changes of prime minister by the rightwing Conservative party after the 2019 general election.
But although he was elected with the biggest parliamentary majority in 100 years, there was a sense even among Labour supporters that Starmer lacked political nous and conviction. This was underlined by missteps including cutting some winter fuel subsidies for pensioners and a U-turn on welfare in the face of a parliamentary rebellion last year.
After the true extent of Mandelson’s ties to Epstein became known in September 2025, Starmer sacked him – but it was too late to prevent the prime minister and his government from becoming embroiled in one of the worst political scandals since the second world war.
All the while, and amid deep unpopularity among voters, panic has continued to grow in Labour ranks that he has been unable to meet the challenge from Reform UK, the anti-immigration party headed by the divisive Farage.
Farage’s party routed Labour and the Conservatives in municipal elections last year and again last month, which was a catalyst for the draining away of support for Starmer and resignations by ministers in his government.
Both they and others who stayed in Starmer’s cabinet had privately and publicly urged him to resign, with backers of Burnham advocating for an orderly transition of power rather than a damaging leadership contest.
