Keir Starmer announced on Monday his plan to step down as leader of the Labour Party and prime minister, just two years after leading the party to its biggest parliamentary majority this century. His successor, once chosen, will become Britain's seventh prime minister in a decade.
Landslide Victory Turned Sour
In July 2024, the Labour Party secured a landslide general election victory after 14 years in opposition. The party had promised to end the chaotic churn at the top of government seen under the Conservatives, but on Monday Starmer announced his resignation. Less than two years ago, he led Labour to its biggest majority in Parliament this century, consigning the Conservatives to their worst-ever defeat.
However, the British public soured on Starmer almost as soon as it elected him. He survived months of scrapes, but in the end the pressure for him to quit became too great to withstand. Starmer leaves office as the least popular prime minister on record, according to opinion polls.
Missteps and Scandals
Unlike his predecessors, Starmer did not join a despised foreign war, botch a pandemic response, or crash the economy. His missteps were more mundane: an attempt to make wealthier pensioners pay more to heat their homes; a plan to cut some benefits to disabled people; accepting freebies; and, in recent months, a scandal over his appointment of Jeffrey Epstein-linked politician Peter Mandelson to the role of UK ambassador to Washington.
Policy missteps alone cannot explain Starmer's fall. There are two other glaring factors, according to analysts.
Inheritance of Austerity
The first is his inheritance. When Starmer took office, Britain was worn out by the Conservative program of austerity. That decade of cost-cutting aimed to reduce Britain's debt and aid its recovery following the 2008 financial crisis but failed on both counts: debt has ballooned and economic growth has been anemic since. Tired of stagnation, Britons were impatient for better times and hoped Labour could provide them.
When a Labour government last took office in 1997, it rode in on a wave of optimism, soundtracked by D:Ream's "Things Can Only Get Better." Starmer struck a different tone. In his first major speech as prime minister, he told people it would take years to fix Britain's foundations and that "things will get worse before they get better." After the heady have-your-cake-and-eat-it premiership of Boris Johnson, some thought Britain was ready for hard truths and would forgive Starmer his dire inheritance. They were mistaken.
Lack of Political Philosophy
The second reason for Starmer's fall is more personal. He failed to set out an easily expressed political philosophy. Lacking the narrative glue that holds a governing project together, many of Labour's decisions seemed arbitrary. Starmer floundered in part because "Starmerism" never existed.
Instead of a big-picture political idea, Starmer was meant to stand for due process. He entered politics in 2015 after a distinguished career in human rights law, which saw him become the director of public prosecutions. He served in the shadow cabinet of Labour's hard-left leader Jeremy Corbyn. After a crushing election defeat in 2019, Starmer was chosen as Corbyn's successor – seen as a safer pair of hands after Labour's years of radicalism.
Caution in Opposition and Government
In opposition, Starmer's skills in cross-examination helped him to hound three Conservative prime ministers at the dispatch box. Seizing on public anger over "Partygate" – where Conservative lawmakers flouted their own laws on Covid-19 lockdowns – Starmer increasingly appeared a prime minister-in-waiting. But the closer Labour got to power, the more cautious it became. Even when polls predicted a landslide win before July 2024, Labour pursued a "Ming Vase" strategy, moving as though one slip could shatter their commanding poll lead.
Wanting to appear as non-threatening as possible, they tempered their ambitions for government and refused to dream big. That caution was costly. The Conservatives, anticipating a heavy defeat, announced sweeping tax cuts before the election, expecting that Labour would have to raise them once in office, given the parlous state of Britain's public finances. Instead, wanting to avoid renewing Labour's image as "the party of tax rises," Starmer ruled out raising the three main sources of taxation, including income tax.
Straitjacket of Tax Promises
Labour spurned the chance to tell a positive story about the need to hike taxes to mend Britain's public services, gutted by years of Conservative austerity. That decision, taken in opposition, became a straitjacket for Labour in government. The party had to raise taxes from smaller, more vulnerable sources.
Shortly after taking office, Labour said it would end a universal subsidy to help older people pay their heating bills in winter, alongside cutting some benefits to disabled people. After a backlash, it backtracked on both plans. To its left-wing voter base, Labour seemed callous. To financial markets, it seemed unwilling to take tough decisions.
Starmer's resignation marks a dramatic fall for a leader who promised stability and competence. His successor will inherit a party divided and a country weary of political turmoil.
