The widely predicted announcement of struggling UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s resignation has arrived from an extraordinary source.
As the UK waited with bated breath on Sunday and the prime minister sweated on a career-defining decision in his countryside residence, US President Donald Trump just posted about it on Truth Social.
US President Donald Trump posted to Truth Social saying that UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer would resign. Anna Moneymaker
“Keir Starmer will resign as Prime Minister of The United Kingdom,” Trump announced on Truth Social on Sunday morning (just before midnight AEST), claiming he “failed badly” on immigration and energy.
It was unclear whether Trump had inside information on the decision or was just joining the dots on a day in which multiple UK front pages quoted unnamed Starmer backers saying the prime minister was prepared to resign.
Most foreign leaders abstain from commenting on or interfering with other nations’ domestic politics.
Trump is not most leaders but even for him the move to apparently announce the resignation of one of his strongest foreign allies was unexpected.
Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham is poised to challenge for the country’s premiership on his return to parliament after winning a by-election in Makerfield, north-west England.
Thursday’s election was triggered to pave Burnham’s route to Downing Street. It’s notable that he comfortably beat his rival from Reform UK, the Nigel Farage-led anti-immigration party that consistently leads in nationwide opinion polls.
US President Donald Trump posted to Truth Social saying that UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer would resign. Donald Trump/Truth Social
Starmer must choose whether to step aside or try to fight off the challenge from one of the country’s most popular politicians.
He led Labour to a landslide election victory in July 2024 but has tanked in the polls since then, with discontent building for months.
He has struggled to deliver promised economic growth, repair tattered public services and ease the cost of living, and has been hamstrung by repeated missteps.
The most high profile of these was his decision to appoint Peter Mandelson, a scandal-tarnished friend of Jeffrey Epstein, as the UK ambassador to the United States.
Starmer has publicly vowed to stay in the post but pressure is building as more and more Labour Party colleagues conclude his time is up.
Starmer has publicly vowed to stay in the post but pressure is building as more and more Labour Party colleagues conclude his time is up. Peter Macdiarmid/Pool Photo via AP
Expectation is growing that he will announce a timetable for his resignation as soon as Monday, when Burnham will be sworn in as a lawmaker in the House of Commons.
Much like One Nation and the Coalition in Australia, Reform UK is tearing support away from the centre-right Conservative Party. But it appears to be eroding support for Labour at a larger scale than in Australia, while the UK’s populist Greens party also threatens to rip voters away on the left.
Only Burnham, his allies argued, could stem the party’s electoral decline in a way that the hugely unpopular Starmer could not.
The resounding manner of Burnham’s win – comprehensively defeating Reform weeks after Labour was routed in local elections – gives him considerable momentum too. He took almost 55 per cent of the 45,510 votes cast, beating the Reform UK runner-up by more than 9000 votes.
Andy Burnham pictured speaking at the launch of his Makerfield by-election campaign. Temilade Adelaja/Reuters via CNN
Already on the weekend, some Labour MPs were repeating their calls for Starmer to step down even though Burnham himself shied away from explicitly referencing his leadership ambitions.
“Everyone knows that politics isn’t working,” Burnham said.
“Everyone can feel that the country isn’t where it should be. Tonight could, just could, be the turning point.”
Business Secretary Peter Kyle said on Sunday that Starmer was “making time to reflect on the political realities, challenges and opportunities that he finds himself in”.
“I know he is a prime minister who always puts his country first,” Kyle told the BBC, though he said reports that Starmer will resign are “speculation”.
Starmer is spending the weekend at Chequers, the country mansion used by British prime ministers, with his family.
He gave no public hint about his decision, but sent a Father’s Day message on social media.
– Reported with Associated Press