UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced that he will resign after losing support within the Labour Party. He informed King Charles of his decision and said he accepts the view of Labour MPs that he is no longer the best person to lead the party into the next general election.
Starmer said he will ask Labour to set a timetable for choosing a new leader. Leadership nominations will open on July 9, and the contest is expected to be completed by September 1, before Parliament returns for its autumn session.
He will remain prime minister until a successor is chosen, saying he wants to ensure an orderly handover and will do everything possible to support the next Labour leader and prime minister.
The move clears the way for Andy Burnham, the long-serving Mayor of Greater Manchester, who recently returned to Parliament after winning a by-election. Burnham is widely viewed as the frontrunner to replace Starmer and has been positioning himself for a leadership bid for months.
Under Britain’s parliamentary system, the leader of the party with a majority in Parliament becomes prime minister. As Labour currently holds a large parliamentary majority, the party’s next leader will automatically become Britain’s next prime minister.
Starmer’s departure comes less than two years after Labour’s landslide election victory and will result in Britain’s seventh leader in a decade. Financial markets reacted calmly, with GBP/USD down about 0.3% and EUR/GBP up 0.1%, as investors had largely expected the move following growing pressure from Labour MPs.
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