Starmer Leaves No. 10 Without Ever Managing to Explain What He Stood For

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(Bloomberg) — Even when it came to his own resignation, Keir Starmer was beaten to the punch by Donald Trump.

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Starmer entered Downing Street less than two years ago, as the US president headed toward a second term. And he will leave later this summer as yet another short-lived British prime minister who failed to come to terms with the world Trump forged. 

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To the last, Starmer wanted time to think through his decision. But onlookers weren’t prepared to wait. 

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“Keir Starmer will resign as Prime Minister of The United Kingdom,” Trump announced the day before Starmer’s own statement in front of No. 10. 

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In opposition, Starmer’s stolid managerialism helped Labour woo a nation tired of the effervescence and shenanigans of Boris Johnson. But it was out of step with the times in which he came to govern. 

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“He has a distaste for the kind of Westminster games that others revel in but unfortunately you need to do some of that to stay on top,” said James Lyons, his former communications director, adding that the premier’s willingness to accommodate his MPs came to be seen as weakness. “In the end, Labour backbenchers refused to take yes for an answer,” he said.

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Labour won a deceptive landslide in the July 2024 general election, giving Starmer the biggest majority since 1997 with the lowest share of the vote for any post-war prime minister who’d claimed an outright victory.

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That meant a jittery parliament with a large cohort of Labour MPs sitting on slim majorities. They would prove ready to ditch their boss when their own seats looked in danger. That quickly became the case as Starmer struggled to navigate a landscape redrawn by Trump’s populist ally Nigel Farage and his Reform UK party.

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Now they are hoping that Andy Burnham will be able to repel the advance of Reform’s right-wing insurgency, after the former mayor of Manchester secured a thumping victory over Farage’s candidate in the Makerfield by-election and paved his way to challenge the prime minister. 

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Starmer’s missteps began early on.

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Cutting winter-fuel payments to some pensioners annoyed MPs on the left, raising taxes for employers frustrated business, and accepting free clothes from party donors tarnished his image with voters across the political spectrum. 

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Starmer had inherited a dire fiscal situation, with borrowing running at 5% of GDP, the debt pile creeping toward 100% of national output, and public services in a sorry state. Waiting lists in the National Health Service were at a record 7.8 million people.

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Labour made it a priority to fix public services in its first, October 2024 budget by raising £40 billion ($53 billion) through taxation, and borrowing another £30 billion. But the decision to hold fast to its election manifesto pledges and spare households from tax rises on their income and earnings meant business shouldered that burden. New levies on private school fees, inherited farmland and private equity added to the sense of betrayal felt by the executives Labour won to its side during a successful election campaign.