Labour Party Removes Keir Starmer as Leader After Two Years

Sir Keir Starmer resigned as Labour leader and prime minister after his parliamentary party decided he was not the best person to lead into the next general election. In an emotional speech delivered outside 10 Downing Street, he said the party had asked whether he remained the right choice and that he accepted the answer with good grace.

Starmer led Labour to a three-figure majority in the 2024 general election, a result achieved on a low national vote share. He had entered Parliament in 2015 after a career as a human rights lawyer and later Director of Public Prosecutions. His government quickly faced criticism over economic messaging and the July 2024 decision to end winter fuel payments for about 10 million pensioners.

Starmer later reversed that policy.

" Opponents within the party said he lacked a clear ideology and struggled to communicate Labour's message. Starmer had promised to restore trust in politics and return the country to calmer waters after what he called the chaos of previous Conservative governments.

Born in Oxted, Surrey, to a toolmaker father and a nurse mother, Starmer studied law at Leeds University and Oxford before entering politics at age 52.