London: The Observer has reported that Prime Minister Keir Starmer was set to resign on Monday and was drawing up a timetable for his exit, though a government source told Reuters that Starmer remained focused on running the government.
Pressure on Starmer, which has been building for several months, escalated on Friday when his former competitor Andy Burnham won a parliamentary seat that would allow him to mount an official leadership challenge.
The Observer said Starmer had been consulting with his wife at the Chequers country residence before making a final call, and that senior Labour figures anticipated a definitive announcement on his future as early as Monday.
But a government source said Starmer was concentrating on his duties and pointed to his earlier statements about staying in post.
The British leader said on Friday he would fight any challenge to his leadership and urged Labour not to tear itself apart with infighting.
Starmer’s Approval Drops
Starmer steered the centre-left Labour party to a landslide win in 2024, yet his personal standing has fallen sharply amid successive scandals and policy reversals that have left many voters unconvinced he can deliver the promised improvements in living standards.
A resignation or removal would mean Britain appointing its seventh prime minister in just over a decade — the highest turnover in nearly two centuries — highlighting public anger at repeated government failures to fix public services and curb illegal immigration.
Reuters counted more than 100 Labour MPs — roughly a quarter of the party’s Commons delegation — who have publicly demanded Starmer quit or set out a timetable for leaving.
The Observer’s story, which did not name its sources, said Starmer had concluded his position was no longer tenable after discussions with cabinet ministers, advisers, donors and trade union leaders.
Burnham Most Likely Successor
Burnham, 56, a veteran politician, is widely seen within Labour as the most likely successor, whether through a negotiated handover or a formal leadership contest.
He built a power base as mayor of Greater Manchester and on Friday comfortably won a by-election for a vacant parliamentary seat, beating a challenge from Nigel Farage’s right-wing populist party.
Burnham did not immediately launch a leadership bid but used his victory speech to promise a new direction for the country, and his supporters urged Starmer to step down and hand over power voluntarily.
Former health secretary Wes Streeting has also indicated he would be willing to contest the leadership.
The Times reported on Saturday that Burnham would sack finance minister Rachel Reeves if he became prime minister after advisers concluded she did not represent sufficient change; Reuters has not independently verified that report.
