Starmer resigns as UK prime minister - The Latest

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0:30You lot are getting rid of me only two years after we won this massive general election. One advantage for Berman is he's likely to take over just as the Commons recess kicks off. I think he's going to be starting with a lot of goodwill from the parliamentary party, or at worst, people willing to give him a chance. But to be fair, that was the position Keir Starmer was in, you know, a couple of years ago. From the Guardians today in Focus, this is The Latest with me, Lucy Hough. Well, the moment has finally happened after so much speculation. Keir Starmer, the lectern, was out early doors this morning outside Downing Street, and Keir Starmer announced his resignation, meaning we are now looking at the seventh prime minister in 10 years.

1:11Peter Walker, you're The Guardian's senior political correspondent, and you were at Downing Street early doors this morning. I was. Because we weren't sure when it was going to happen, but it did seem likely it was going to happen today. What was the atmosphere like? I went down to Downing Street, and it was already packed. I mean, it's a usual thing. you have the stills photographers with all their step ladders. Then you have the TV crews, there are people broadcasting in Japanese, in French, in Chinese. The Chinese state news agency was next to me. There was not quite so many kind of print reporters like me.

1:42There were people who wanted to be there and basically see the colour because on the TV screen you can't really tell quite what's going on. Yeah, and so what was that colour? Because there was a lot of number 10 staffers behind him, his wife Vic, and a kind of uncharacteristically very emotional crack of the voice at the end of his speech. I shall 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, and being the best dad I can to my beautiful children, who are my pride and my joy. But what else did he say about his decision?

2:25It was a very brief speech. It lasted about four or five minutes. And when you have the transcript, it's only 750 words. He packed quite a lot into it. I think it was interesting. The first thing he said was he said the proudest moment of his life was walking down number 10, walking towards number 10 only two years earlier. And I think that was the kind of subtext he wanted to get across. You know, you lot are getting rid of me. Only two years after we won this massive general election win. And that's very much the feeling that he and his allies still feel very keenly that they think that Labour MPs and particularly Burnham's team have acted quite hastily.

3:01But then he went on to basically say, look, you know, I accept that it's not just what I've done. It's do my MPs have confidence for me to lead them into the next general election? And the answer very much was no. And he, again, stated the point that whatever he wanted to do, he thought the country's best interests were the most important thing. And I think that was crucial, too, because there was a world in which he could have clung on. He could have eked it out another few months with a whole series of rolling cabinet resignations, you know, the kind of Boris Johnson way. But that's quite damaging for the party.

3:36That's quite damaging for the country. And he spent the weekend at Chequers with Victoria and probably one or two other very, very close people to him. working out what to do. And, you know, we knew that by Saturday, the decision has been made. The text of the speech was being drafted by Saturday. Yeah, and if there was any doubt, then we had a post from Trump on Truth Social yesterday saying that Starmer was going to resign. Obviously, you can't rely on anything being true that Trump's posts on, but it suggested perhaps he'd been speaking to people or there'd been some information from Downing Street.

4:09I think they'd just been reading the media. There was no signs. Downing Street say they hadn't talked. So I like to think that amongst his normal scrolling, he sometimes looks at the Guardian website and goes, oh, OK. One can only hope, Peter. And as early as, or as recently as Friday, Kiyosama was saying he really planned to cling on and that he would fight in any leadership contest. You mentioned that he was at Chequers with his wife, Vic, and various senior advisors, but also on the phone to lots of people in the parliamentary party, people who are traditionally close to him. And it feels that those conversations made it clear to him that things were very untenable.

4:46I get the sense that by the time he'd gone to Chequers, he kind of knew the game was up. The preparations were there. The writing is very, very clearly on the wall. I mean, it was interesting that after the Makefield by-election result, when Andy Burnham won by so much, the kind of metric that people in number 10 have kind of mentally set was, well, you know, he does better than reform and restore Britain combined and he's done okay. But he ended up getting over 50 % of the vote. So that was a stomping win. And Keir Stummer went straight out on Friday morning and did a housing-related visit where he said, no, I'm going to fight on and I'm going to keep going on.

5:26even then we doubted it um yeah but it was notable that i was working yesterday that as late as sunday afternoon the official number 10 line was no we refer you back to his friday words he's still going to fight on even though by that point we'd had a story saying he was stepping down on monday on the very front of the website for about eight hours and normally downing street press team you know if you get even one word in a quote wrong they're straight on the phone saying no no you have to change that and we hadn't heard a peep from them so it was very very obvious that i mean we our sources were very good we knew it's the case but that cemented it the fact that there was no pushback whatsoever it was just you know this moment of calm you always get before a big change like this where everyone hunkers down and decides in this case not if it's going to be done but how it's going to be done yeah and those very carefully chosen you know 700 words more or less that you mentioned.

6:22As part of that very short address, he gave a clear sense of the timetable, that there will be a contest opening next month. But crucially, Wes Streeting, the person who is likely to challenge Andy Burnham has said he will support Burnham. So what does that contest, if it happens at all, look like next month? The chances are very much there will not be a contest. It'll be Andy Burnham only who goes for it. It's always possible, or you might have a minister who just fancies their chances. But it would be quite a controversial and a divisive thing to do because they would be pretty certain that Andy Burnham would win the contest.

7:00If there's more than one person who gets the necessary support from Labour MPs and it goes to a vote of Labour members, but that takes weeks and weeks. So Kirsten was setting out that if there was a contest, you would not get a Prime Minister before probably September. By the time the Commons comes back from its summer break. But now it seems very, very likely. I mean, it's still a quite leisurely timetable, but nominations don't even open till early next month. And it means that we are unlikely to get Andy Burnham, assuming it is him, in number 10 before mid-July. So it means Keir Starmer gets to go to the NATO summit in Turkey earlier in the month.

7:38And he kind of gets, you know, three or four weeks to do whatever legacy project you want to do. And it's this quite fascinating period that prime ministers, when they've announced they're going to go, it focuses in mind. You had Theresa May in particular had a period of about six weeks where she told the party she was going to go. And I was talking to one of her former staffers a couple of weeks ago who was pointing out that she spent a lot of it making sure that the landmark bill, which made the UK the first major economy to set net zero targets, went through. And she got it through about two weeks before she left.

8:13So who knows, Starmer might have stuff he still wants to get done. Yeah, but Andy Burnham, it's a hugely high stakes time for him, isn't it? I wouldn't want to be Andy Burnham now. Yeah, because you've got three weeks newly voted as an MP of Makerfield and you really cannot make any missteps, can you, in the next few weeks in a way that might hire Starmer loyalists who feel that this has all been done too hastily. I think he's going to be starting with a lot of goodwill from the parliamentary party or at worst people willing to give him a chance. Yeah. But to be fair, that was a position Keir Starmer was in, you know, a couple of years ago, with the added credit that he'd won a general election win that a few years earlier after the 2019 election, most people in Labour thought could never be done.

8:58One advantage for Burnham is he's likely to take over just as the Commons recess kicks off. So he'll have this period of about six weeks where he can make speeches, he can go on visits, he can do all that kind of prime ministerial stuff. Without having these quite awkward set piece Commons debates and statements. He's not been an MP since 2017. You know, he's been a cabinet minister before. He knows how it works. But he's going to have to get himself back into it. And I think the most important thing is that he has to set a sense of movement, of things happening at pace, but also this difficult balancing act of saying, look, I'm different.

9:35I'm not like the old lot. whilst certainly before a general election not having actually that much policy leeway. When he gave his speech in Makerfield, which was the start of the by-election campaign, I watched him do a whole series of clips and interviews with broadcasters and with us. And he kept on saying, look, the manifesto is the manifesto. We were elected on this. So if I am in number 10, I can't go much beyond that. So it's going to be a tricky balancing act. Definitely will be. But crucially, the role of Chancellor seems up for grabs. And there's been lots of discussion over the weekend, hasn't there, about speculation on that.

10:16I mean, Rachel Reeves, it's been reported, was very keen to hang on to her job and has kept a relatively low profile in recent weeks. Her absence outside number 10 was very notable this morning, given that there were other people like David Lammy, the Deputy Prime Minister, and Darren Jones, to Chief Secretary, to the Prime Minister outside, you know, key allies of his, as Reeves has been for so long. But it seems unlikely that Burnham, should he win this, keep Reeves in position? And there are a number of names being floated, aren't there? With Chancellor, I mean, Rachel Reeves wasn't there. To be honest, there were a lot of cabinet ministers who were not there.

10:52There's been various names floated. Ed Miliband has been, you know, his allies have been keen to position him. That might get some pushback, particularly unions. Yeah, there's been some quite major pushback already over the weekend, hasn't there? The head of Unite said that this would be a noose around the neck of job creation should Miliband be appointed chancellor. Which a lot of people in Labour wouldn't agree with necessarily, but it would kind of eye the right wing press, which he might not want to do. Wes Streeting, one of the reasons that he's obviously decided not to run is to try and catapult himself into an even bigger job than the one he had in the past.

11:27there's been a lot of talk it's basically again mainly men it's mainly the boys um there's been talk of like a reassuring kind of undertaker type like pat mcfadden john healy people like that but we we basically don't know because the burnham camp is very very tight and this is the decision they're going to have to do they're going to have to see who seems like they're on the side and it's it's it's a balancing act you can take risk with some areas and not in uh others and with every cabinet has to be a cohesive picture. And I mean, that's going to be the big choice that they need to make. It's going to be one of the biggest choices facing Burnham in the coming weeks.

12:04Yeah, change, but not too much change. You don't want to spook people. You don't want to spook the markets. And I think the thing they live in fear of is the bond markets going, you know, slightly crazy. And so what does that mean for Keir Starmer in particular? Because his voice broke as he spoke of his desire now to just focus on being a husband to Vic and a father to his two very beloved children. That's when his voice broke. But he didn't specify whether he intends to continue as an MP or indeed if he's looking for a cabinet position. What do we know just lastly about that, Peter? It's worth pointing out that when his voice did break, I could sense this emotion going around all the reporters.

12:43I mean, we're human beings and it was a very human thing. and his wife, who was standing just off camera, was looking very, very emotional at that time. In terms of what he does next, he did say he would support the government in any way necessary. I don't think that means being in an anti-Burner cabinet. We don't get the sense he wants to do that. I doubt very much he's decided whether he wants to be an MP anymore. He probably would. There would be an argument for him standing down in the next general election, not least as the Greens really fancy his seat. It's a Camden seat and it's a sort of area where they're strong.

13:17I think he might see it as a bit undignified to step down now and just think, basically, sod politics, I've tried it, I've done a big job and I'm off. So I think he'll be a low-level, quiet, almost Theresa May-like backbencher for the next few years. But, I mean, who knows? There's a lot going on. He could easily change his mind. You never know, Peter. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you very much. That's it for today. My huge thanks again to Peter Walker, The Guardian's senior political correspondent. and you can keep up with all his reporting and our wider lobby team over at theguardian.com where we also have a live blog of this story.

13:53And don't miss today's episode of Politics Weekly, our sister podcast with Pippa Creera and Kieran Stacey. Thanks for listening to this episode of The Latest. Today in Focus will be back in your feeds as usual tomorrow morning with a look of where it all went wrong for Keir Starmer. The Latest will be back tomorrow night. This episode was presented by me, Lucy Hoff. It was produced by Annie Levespa and Bryony Moore. The senior producer was Ryan Ramgoban.

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