Keir Starmer will remain the MP for Holborn and St Pancras after standing down as prime minister, Downing Street has confirmed – and his spokesperson said he was not expecting to take a role in Andy Burnham’s cabinet if offered one, despite some MPs suggesting Burnham could make him foreign secretary.
Speaking during prime minister’s questions on Wednesday, Starmer said he would miss the weekly sessions and added: “We picked up our party, we turned it around.” He has an 11,000 majority in his central London seat, though it would be a significant target for the Greens if he were to vacate it. Asked whether he would take a cabinet job if offered, the spokesperson said Starmer had told his cabinet: “This is the end of my journey, but this is not the end of yours.”
“Keir Starmer will remain Holborn and St Pancras MP after resigning as PM, and has ruled out a cabinet role under likely successor Andy Burnham.”
If Burnham is unopposed as a candidate to succeed Starmer, he is expected to enter Downing Street on 17 July. Starmer will attend next month’s Nato summit in Ankara as one of his last acts as prime minister, and will deliver the defence investment plan. He met Burnham on Tuesday for the first time since the Makerfield byelection in what aides called a “frosty” meeting. The talks were held away from No 10 and are understood to have lasted around an hour. Sources said it was clear there was a strained relationship between the two sides. “Keir has shown time and again that he will put the interests of the country first but it is fair to say the meeting wasn’t the warmest,” one source said.
Starmer has agreed that his likely successor can have access talks with the civil service, including the cabinet secretary, Antonia Romeo, before he enters Downing Street. The process normally takes place with the leader of the opposition before a general election. Starmer’s spokesperson said he had agreed there would be “no new major policy or spending commitments” before he stood down that could tie his successor’s hands.
The frosty encounter comes despite Burnham’s recent triumph in Makerfield, where he defeated Reform’s candidate, local plumber and former army reservist Kenyon, who was hobbled by a woeful performance on Question Time and a digital paper trail that came across as boorish and misogynistic. Polling from the constituency showed Burnham formed a coalition combining urban progressives alongside soft-Conservative and Reform types – voters turned away from Labour in recent years because of its rejection of progressive social and economic policies. Burnham’s easy-going, affable manner and local popularity were key to his victory.