UK PM Starmer announces resignation in emotional speech

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced that he will resign after serving less than two years in office.

Starmer said the process to select a new Labour Party leader would begin in July, and that he would remain prime minister until a successor is chosen and takes office in September.

"Every decision I have taken has been about putting the country I love first. That is why I will resign as leader of the Labour Party," he said in what AFP described as an emotional speech outside 10 Downing Street.

After leading the Labour Party to power in 2024 with the largest parliamentary majority in modern British history, Starmer concentrated on what he believed was achievable rather than presenting a clear vision of what a future Britain should look like.

“He quickly came to be regarded by many voters and even members of his own party as lacking conviction and a clear sense of direction, according to more than 20 party insiders. Critics said he had no big idea,” reported Reuters.

“Without what one senior Labour lawmaker described as ‘a guiding light’, the former lawyer found himself pulled between competing Labour factions, pressured by vested interests, and often misunderstood by cautious voters - many of whom grew frustrated with what they saw as his indecision and robotic public performances.”

The report also stated that Starmer, 63, increasingly turned to his wife Victoria for reliable advice.

“On May 12, five days after disastrous local election results for Labour prompted calls for him to quit, he had a long lunch with her and emerged determined to fight on,” it stated.

An Ipsos poll published on Friday found that 52 percent of the British public believe Starmer should stand down as prime minister, up five percentage points from May, while 35 percent say he should remain in office.

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