UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces a career-defining decision: resign or fight a potential challenge from Labor Party rival Andy Burnham.
Starmer has publicly vowed to remain in office, but pressure is mounting as more and more Labor Party colleagues conclude his time is up. Expectations are growing that he will announce the timeline for his resignation on Monday. That’s the day Burnham will be sworn in as a lawmaker in the House of Commons after winning a special election last week.
Business Secretary Peter Kyle said on Sunday that Starmer is “taking time to reflect on the political realities, challenges and opportunities he finds himself in.”
“I know he is a prime minister who always puts his country first,” Kyle told the BBC, although he said reports that Starmer will resign are “speculation.”
Starmer will spend the weekend at Chequers, the country mansion used by prime ministers, with his family. He didn’t give any public hints about his decision, but he did send a Father’s Day message on social media.
“Being a dad is my greatest joy. Today I think about my dad and the father I am to my children thanks to him,” he wrote in X.
US President Donald Trump weighed in even before making the announcement, linking Starmer’s possible departure to two of his recurring issues: immigration and renewable energy.
“Keir Starmer will resign as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He failed miserably on two very important issues: IMMIGRATION AND ENERGY (OPEN NORTH SEA OIL!). I wish him the best! President DJT,” Trump posted on his Truth Social network.
It was unclear whether Trump was responding to media reports about Starmer’s plans. The two leaders have not spoken over the weekend.
Starmer’s initially warm relationship with the president has deteriorated in recent months over issues such as the Iran war, which the UK did not join.
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If Starmer resigns, he will be the sixth prime minister to leave office in the last 10 years, an extraordinary turnover rate for the UK.
Discontent with the prime minister has been growing for months, and Labor lawmakers are desperate to reverse the government’s decline in popularity since Starmer led the centre-left party to a landslide election victory in July 2024.
He has struggled to deliver promised economic growth, repair crumbling public services and ease the cost of living, and has been hamstrung by repeated mistakes, including his decision to appoint Peter Mandelson, a scandal-tainted friend of Jeffrey Epstein, as Britain’s ambassador to the United States.
Labor is losing liberal voters to the growing Green Party and faces a growing Reform UK, the anti-immigration party led by Nigel Farage that consistently leads national opinion polls.
Burnham, until this week the popular mayor of Greater Manchester, decisively won the seat of Makerfield, in northwest England, in a special election on Thursday. He won almost 55% of the 45,510 votes cast, more than 9,000 more than Reform UK’s second-place finisher.
Now that Burnham is becoming a lawmaker, he is in a position to challenge Starmer for the leadership of the Labor Party. Burnham’s acceptance speech left no doubt that she wants to lead both the party and the country.
“Everyone knows that politics doesn’t work,” he said. “Everyone can feel that the country is not where it should be. Tonight could be, just could, be the turning point.”
It is unclear whether Burnham would face a coronation or challenge if Starmer steps aside. Wes Streeting, who resigned as health secretary last month to protest against Starmer’s leadership, has said he will contest if there is one.
Starmer congratulated Burnham on Friday but insisted he would fight any attempt to unseat him.
“I will stand and stand” if there is a Labor leadership contest, Starmer said. “I’ve said repeatedly that I’m not going to walk away from that.”
But Charlie Falconer, a senior Labor member of the House of Lords, said on Saturday that Starmer “has absolutely no authority left.”
“There should be an agreed transition process where Andy and Keir cooperate as to when the handover should take place,” he told the BBC.
© 2026 The Canadian Press
