Keir Starmer is expected to announce his departure as prime minister on Monday, after a day in which Donald Trump joined a growing rebellion inside Labour that has left the party on the brink of a sixth leadership change in a decade.
The US president wrote on Truth Social that Starmer "will resign", blaming him for failures on "immigration and energy (OPEN NORTH SEA OIL!)" and adding: "I wish him well!" The intervention, seized on by Trump as speculation mounted in Westminster, came hours after Business Secretary Peter Kyle pointedly refused to rule out a resignation, telling the BBC that Starmer was "taking the time to think through what the political realities are today, compared to last week, the week before."
“Keir Starmer is expected to resign Monday as Labour MPs push Andy Burnham to replace him after a decisive by-election win.”
Kyle's comments followed a Guardian report that Starmer would make a "clear statement" on his future after concluding his position was no longer tenable. The Observer also reported that the prime minister was bowing to pressure from Labour MPs to make way for Andy Burnham.
Burnham, the newly elected MP for Makerfield after a decisive by-election victory with more than half the vote, has already secured the nominations needed to trigger a leadership challenge, according to the New Statesman's political editor. In his victory speech, Burnham declared the result "a final chance to change" for the Labour government, which is cripplingly unpopular in the polls, and claimed the constituency had "voted for hope".
Starmer entered Downing Street less than two years ago promising to end the chaos of five prime ministers forced out in a decade, the Sun noted. But today, even his own MPs are desperate for a quick coronation of Burnham as prime minister. The Sun editorial warned that Burnham has "no plan" for welfare, immigration and net zero, and came with no mandate for nationalising energy and water. It argued Labour must hold a leadership contest to "test Burnham properly", calling a stitch-up "a disaster waiting to happen."
Kyle said Starmer was "reflecting" and doing his job, but the prime minister's troubles have been building for months, driven by poor polling and Labour unrest. The relationship with Trump broke down over Starmer's refusal to approve direct military involvement in the US-Israel war on Iran, with Trump labelling him "no Winston Churchill".
As Westminster braces for Monday, Burnham — absent from Westminster since 2015 — now faces the question of whether his TikTok-ready pitch can survive the scrutiny of international diplomacy, or whether, as the Sun put it, Trump and Brussels will "eat him alive."