Keir Starmer resigns as prime minister and backs Andy Burnham to succeed him

Keir Starmer used his final speech as prime minister on the steps of Downing Street on Monday to formally announce his resignation and publicly back Labour’s new leader, Andy Burnham, to succeed him. In the speech, published by GOV.UK, Starmer said he was stepping down after two years in office and handing “the baton” to Burnham, who was confirmed as Labour leader last week.

“Today I am here to offer my resignation and close the book on my time as Prime Minister. My work is done,” Starmer said in the address at 10 Downing Street on July 20. He said he would then travel to Buckingham Palace to tender his resignation to King Charles III, the formal constitutional step required before a new prime minister can be appointed.

Burnham, the newly elected Labour leader, is now expected to be invited by the king to form a government. Under the usual process when a prime minister resigns during a parliamentary term, the outgoing prime minister tenders a resignation to the monarch, who then asks the governing party’s new leader to form an administration, according to a House of Commons Library briefing on how a prime minister is appointed.

The handover follows the timeline Starmer set out a month ago. On June 22, he announced he would resign as Labour leader and prime minister but remain in office during the transition. Burnham was confirmed as Labour leader on July 17, putting him in line to become prime minister once the king formally appoints him. He had already returned to the House of Commons after being sworn in as the member of Parliament for Makerfield on June 22.

Starmer has served as prime minister since July 2024, after Labour’s landslide victory in the general election on July 4 that year. In his farewell speech, he referred back to that win as the beginning of the chapter now ending. He also used the address to make clear that he wanted an orderly transfer of power to his successor: “So, as I now pass the baton to Andy Burnham, I wish him every success. He has my full support.”