Updated ,first published
London: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer looks set to resign after ministers asked him to replace rival leader Andy Burnham in a transition period that could be announced as soon as Monday.
One of Starmer’s closest allies, Business Secretary Peter Kyle, said the prime minister was considering his future at the weekend after speaking to colleagues after Burnham’s parliamentary election last Thursday.
US President Donald Trump fueled talk of his resignation by announcing it would happen.
“Keir Starmer will resign as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“He failed miserably in two very important subjects – IMMIGRATION AND ENERGY (OPEN NORTH SEA OIL!). I wish him well! President DJT.”
In a major signal over the weekend, Kyle failed to rule out Starmer standing aside, although the prime minister said on Saturday he would contest the vote if challenged.
“The only thing I can honestly say is that the prime minister is working hard, as he is every day,” Kyle told Sky News on Sunday morning (London time).
“He’s one of the hardest working people I’ve ever met, and today, like every other day I’ve known Keir, he’s out there working hard.
“At the same time he is also trying to create a space where he can think and reflect on the political reality and the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead of us.”
One Labor MP, named by Daily Telegraph of London and said he was loyal to the prime minister, said he believed Starmer would announce his departure date as soon as Monday.
“There is nobody left. People whose relatives work in No 10 or people who are long-time friends of Starmer are the only ones left,” the MP said, without being named.
The viewer The paper said Starmer had admitted the party wanted to appoint Burnham as leader, citing allies who said he would make plans for an “orderly exit” on Monday.
Widespread reports of a possible resignation were based on unnamed sources in the reports, in a style typical of leadership maneuvering.
Doubts persisted about how the transition could happen, with one option being Starmer’s timetable for resignation in a process that could be announced soon and take weeks or even months.
Kyle, however, defended the vote instead of the decision to raise Burnham unopposed.
“My view on this has always been that competition is best wherever possible,” he told the BBC after his Sky interview.
“That needs to be balanced with the need to maintain the party’s authority through whatever processes go on.”
Starmer was said to be spending the weekend at Checkers, the prime minister’s official residence outside London, with his wife, Victoria.
The prospect of a leadership vote is central to the next steps in the leadership saga after months of speculation about Burnham and other candidates for the top job, such as former health secretary Wes Streeting, who quit the cabinet in May and has called on Starmer to resign.
Former Labor minister John Hutton, now a member of the House of Lords, said the government was in a “terrible” situation because Starmer had lost support after a series of missteps.
“If there is going to be a change of leadership, which seems certain now, you know, I would like a choice in that,” he told the BBC.
Under Labor rules, a challenger to the prime minister would need the approval of 81 MPs to ask the party secretary to launch a leadership vote, which would be open to thousands of members and take weeks.
This means Labor rules do not allow for a snap vote by parliament so that a challenger can take the top job within a day, as has been seen in the spillover of Australian leaders under the Westminster system in the past.
Burnham, a former minister who returned to parliament on Thursday with a landslide victory in the by-election in Makerfield, a seat near Manchester, has not commented on his plans and has not announced he will contest.
Although Burnham has not set out an alternative policy agenda to Starmer, he is widely seen as the best contender to take the top job because of his communication skills and his convincing defeat of the right-wing Reform UK party in the Makerfield race.
London media have named four prime ministers who have privately asked Starmer to set a timetable for his departure: Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband.
A government source told the BBC it was a “conspiracy” to think Starmer could beat Burnham in the leadership vote.
Financial Times reported that Jonathan Reynolds, Labour’s chief whip, told the Starmer on Friday that there was a growing desire among Labor behind a change of procedure to Burnham.
Labor MPs are expected to meet in Westminster on Monday night for a parliamentary session, with the prime minister due to face questions in the House of Commons on Wednesday.
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David Crowe is the Europe correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect through X or email address.
