10 Downing Street,22nd June 2026 –Keir Starmer has announced that he has resigned as UK Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party.
In a statement outside 10 Downing Street, the PM said every decision he has made in office has been about “putting the country I love first.”
Visibly emotional, the PM thanked his “fantastic wife, Vic”, describing her as his “rock”, and said he wants to be the “best dad I can be to my beautiful children.”
Starmer said he’ll remain in post until Labour chooses a new leader, which he has asked the party’s governing body to ensure happens “before Parliament returns in September.”
Andy Burnham, who could replace the PM, will be in Westminster today to be sworn in as MP for Makerfield, after winning a by-election last week.
The Prime Minister spoke over the phone to King Charles, who was at Highgrove, his estate in Gloucestershire, this morning to tell him he was resigning.
Starmer said after leaving the “biggest job in the country” he will spend more time on “the most important job”:
“Being the best husband I can to my fantastic wife Vic, who has been a rock by my side through good times and bad,” he said, fighting back the emotion of the moment.
“And being the best dad that I can to my beautiful children, who are my pride and joy,” he concluded. He hugged his wife before heading back inside No. 10.
Keir Starmer said he will do everything he can to ensure an orderly handover of power, and will give his successor his full support.
“They know,” he continued, “that they are inheriting a Britain that is stronger and fairer than two years ago.”
Starmer then thanked his friends and colleagues who have been by his side for six years, as well as the No. 10 staff and the “extraordinary civil service.”
Starmer said he spoke to the King this morning to inform him of his decision to resign. He has asked the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party to set out a timetable with nominations opening for the leadership on 9 July, and to be completed by the summer recess.
This will mean a new leader is in place before Parliament returns in September. Until then he will remain in post as Prime Minister, he said.
Starmer said the question his party was asking was whether he was best placed to lead it into the next general election. He said he had “heard the answer” of his party to that question and “accepts that answer with good grace.”
Every decision, he said, he has taken has been about “putting the country I love first.”
“I will resign as Leader of the Labour Party,” he said.
Before he announced his resignation, Starmer said he had inherited a Labour Party that was “politically, financially and morally bankrupt.”
He said he was told “time and time again” that the party was “finished”, but said he “proved those people wrong.”
He said he changed the party by “ripping out the poison of antisemitism.”
“Restoring trust on the economy, defence and national security,” he added.
“Walking up Downing Street two years ago was the proudest moment of my life,” he said.
He said he came into politics for the chance to change the lives of millions of people for the better. Starmer then outlined the journey that saw Labour take power in July 2024.
Earlier in the House of Commons, Labour MP and Andy Burnham supporter Anna Dixon said she wants Starmer to step down without a leadership contest being triggered.
“I think it’s clear now that the PM recognises it’s time to go. I think he’s seen the writing on the wall,” she told Radio 4’s Today programme.
She said she hopes Starmer will set out a timetable for transition “whether that’s in weeks or months”, in order to “preserve stability for the country.”
Dixon said it is important for the country to have a “smooth handover”, but said it does not need to see leadership hopefuls “pull each other apart” in debates.
Asked if that means she wants to see Burnham given the job without a contest, Dixon said Burnham has “already shown he’s a very successful politician for some 25 years.”
“He’s sat round the cabinet table previously… he’s run a major city as mayor for nine years, so I think he has been tested.” (BBC)