Why did Starmer resign? These are the key moments of his chaotic two years as prime minister
Sir Keir Starmer has resigned as prime minister after 23 months in power in the wake of Labour’s record local election losses and mounting pressure from his own MPs.
It follows Andy Burnham’s dramatic victory in the Makerfield by-election, a result that was seen by many in Labour as proof that the former Greater Manchester mayor is able to beat Reform in a way Sir Keir could not.
Sir Keir took office in July 2024 following a landslide victory at the general election, but has since overseen a massive decline in popularity for the government as discontent with his leadership grew.
His resignation triggers a decisive Labour leadership election, with several MPs representing different factions of the party understood to be intending to put their name forward.
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Here’s a look back at the events that shaped Sir Keir’s premiership:
Andy Burnham’s victory in the Makerfield by-election effectively fired the starting gun for a leadership challenge against Sir Keir, and was the final trigger for his long-awaited resignation.
Mr Burnham, who defeated Reform UK’s Robert Kenyon by 9,231 votes, defied national trends to increase Labour’s share of the vote in an area where Nigel Farage’s Reform UK made sweeping gains in last month’s local elections.
His victory was seen by some as proof that the former Greater Manchester mayor can beat Reform in a general election, with Mr Burnham’s allies calling on the prime minister to hand over power in the hours after the results.
The seat was vacated by Josh Simons earlier this year to allow him the chance of returning to Westminster to challenge Sir Keir, but Labour’s struggle to beat Nigel Farage’s party meant Mr Burnham was in for a tough fight.
The dramatic victory heaped even more pressure on the prime minister’s already strained position in No 10, after he was almost ousted following last month’s disastrous local elections.
Things were already looking terminal for Sir Keir when he was hit by the shock resignation of his defence secretary John Healey who was quickly followed out of the door by armed forces minister Al Carns.
Mr Healey’s departure was a huge blow to the prime minister’s authority because he was seen as the ultimate party loyalist.
The two quit over a decision to only allocate £10b instead of £23bn to the Defence Investment Plan (Dip) at a time when the world is becoming increasingly dangerous with wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. Sir Ker had promised to get defence spending up to 3.5 per cent of GDP by the middle of the next parliament but offered plan to that route.
More concerning was a Nato warning that the UK and her allies could be at war with Russia in five years.
Despite all this the Treasury had won the battle with the Ministry of Defence to limit defence spending after months of indecision by Sir Keir.
Under Sir Keir’s leadership, the Labour Party suffered back-to-back record defeats at the local ballot box, with last week’s result showcasing collapsed support in traditional Labour heartlands, as well as Scotland and Wales.
Sir Keir’s party lost 1,496 councillors across England, beating a record set by the Conservatives in 1981, and lost control of 38 councils. The party’s loss was largely Reform UK’s gain, as Nigel Farage’s party won 1,451 seats and 14 councils.
In Scotland, Labour’s hopes of increasing its vote share were dashed, a result the party’s leader in Scotland Anas Sarwar blamed on “national dissatisfaction” with the prime minister.
The situation was even worse for the party in Wales, with Labour losing control of the Senedd for the first time since it was created in 1999 as its vote share fell by more than half to third place.
Responding to the dire results, Sir Keir said he was “taking responsibility” but announced his intention to stay on, telling the country: “...just as I take responsibility for the results, I also take responsibility for delivering the change that we promised for a stronger and fairer Britain that we must build.”
However, the pressure from within his own party would prove too much for the outgoing prime minister, who announced his resignation after crunch talks with his cabinet on Tuesday.
There had long been lingering questions over former US ambassador Peter Mandelson’s ties to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, but the release of the Epstein files would reveal the extent of their deep relationship.
At the end of January, more than 3 million pages, 180,000 images and 2,000 videos related to Jeffrey Epstein were made public by the US Department of Justice (DOJ).
Lord Mandelson’s name appears multiple times in the files. In email exchanges with Epstein, the former minister appears to share internal cabinet business on several occasions, alongside jokes and personal messages.
The revelations called into question Sir Keir’s decision to appoint the veteran politician as US ambassador in December 2024, as critics demanded details of the vetting process he underwent to be released.
On Sunday 8 February, Sir Keir’s chief of staff and long-time ally Morgan McSweeney resigned from the position. He wrote: “The decision to appoint Peter Mandelson was wrong. He has damaged our party, our country and trust in politics itself.
Just over two months later, more details of how Lord Mandelson was able to be appointed to the role came to light. Although he had failed the thorough vetting process, the Foreign Office allowed an exception to be made.
This was blamed on the office’s foreign secretary Olly Robbins, who Downing Street claimed failed to raise security concerns with officials, prompting him to be sacked.
Sir Keir resisted clamours for him to resign over the scandal at the time, but would remain in post only a month longer.
The by-election for the Greater Manchester seat of Gorton and Denton took place at the end of February against a backdrop of tight polling – and after causing furious Labour infighting.
The Green Party were ultimately successful in taking the seat in what represented a massive loss for Labour. The area had remained a stronghold for the party in some form since 1974.
In January, the most senior group of Labour’s governing body, the National Executive Committee (NEC), voted to block Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham from standing in the seat, citing concerns over the costs to the party of a mayoral election.
In response, a group of 50 unidentified Labour MPs wrote to Sir Keir urging the entire NEC to meet and reconsider the decision, which they say caused a “huge amount of anxiety and anger” and increased the chance of the government losing the seat to Reform.
The governing body was previously accused of factionalism over its blocking of left-leaning candidates at the 2024 general election, such as Faiza Shaheen in Chingford and Woodford Green, or the alleged attempt to bar Hackney MP Diane Abbott.
In July 2025, the government was forced to make a damaging U-turn on its proposals to cut disability benefits, watering down the plans to appease a mounting backbench rebellion.
Over 100 Labour MPs were understood to be prepared to vote against the government on the plans to tighten the eligibility for the personal independence payment (PIP), Britain’s most claimed disability benefit.
This forced an embarrassing climbdown from ministers, announcing in the middle of debate that disability minister Sir Stephen Timms would undertake a full review of PIP before any future changes.
It marked one of several U-turns during Sir Keir’s tenure, coming just the month after the decision to water down changes to the Winter Fuel Payment for pensioners after it was removed from over nine million pensions in winter 2024.
Read more: Every Labour U-turn
Rachel Reeves announced an end to the two-child benefit cap at Labour’s 2025 autumn Budget, marking a major win for child poverty campaigners – and a major departure from the government’s previous position.
Senior figures such as Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar and former prime minister Gordon Brown had put pressure on the government to scrap the policy ahead of the announcement.
In July 2024, Labour suspended seven MPs who voted against the whip for an SNP amendment to the King’s Speech to scrap the two-child benefit cap, while a further 42 abstained.
One of these, Zarah Sultana, later announced her plan to start a new party with former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
As Labour prime minister, Sir Keir has overseen a massive decline in popularity both for himself and for the government.
Though Labour won 411 of 650 seats in the 2024 general election, the party took home a more moderate 33.8 per cent of the national vote on a turnout of just 60 per cent, with some describing it as “the loveless landslide”.
Now, just under two years later, polling from YouGov shows that only 18 per cent of the country would vote for a Labour government.
Meanwhile, Reform UK has enjoyed a rapid rise in the polls, overtaking Labour in May 2025 and remaining ahead as Conservative popularity falters. Voting intention for Nigel Farage’s party now sits at 25 per cent – seven points ahead of the government.
Sir Keir himself saw a major drop in popularity immediately after the election, which has only worsened over time. The former prime minister’s net favourability hitting 48 per cent in March, YouGov data shows, with 61 per cent saying they dislike him.
Sir Keir faced twenty resignations by ministers during his tenure, several of which were damaging, drawn-out political episodes.
The most recent was the resignation of John Healey, who accused the prime minister of being “unwilling to commit the resources” needed to keep Britain safe. His decision to quit was followed by the resignation of veterans minister Al Carns - who has signalled he would put his name forward in any leadership contest.
Weeks before, Wes Streeting sensationally quit as health secretary following Labour’s disastrous local election results.
Mr Streeting, who is widely expected to challenge the prime minister, last month said he has lost confidence in the prime minister, criticising his government's "drift" and lack of "vision".
Another significant resignation was that of then-deputy prime minister and housing secretary Angela Rayner, who left the cabinet over allegations that she breached the ministerial code by failing to declare stamp duty to HMRC.
Meanwhile, in February 2025, senior MP Anneliese Dodds quit as international development minister over cuts to the UK’s aid budget, while Vicky Foxcroft resigned as whip the following June in protest to proposed disability cuts.
The so-called ‘tractor tax’ was announced at Labour’s 2024 Budget, and would continue to plague the government for most of Sir Keir’s tenure.
The measure saw the 100 per cent relief on inheritance tax on agricultural and business property scrapped for “the wealthiest estates” worth £1 million or more. In December 2025, this threshold was raised to £2.5 million in response to the furious reaction to the changes.
The debate saw several protests take place outside Westminster, with some farmers even taking their tractors to the capital as Labour’s popularity plummeted in rural areas.
Just a few months after the general election, it would emerge that Sir Keir, his wife Lady Victoria, and a number of senior cabinet ministers had received controversial free gifts. These included hospitality at Arsenal, worth £8,750 per game, for the PM to watch his favourite football team.
Sir Keir received nearly £19,000 worth of work clothes and several pairs of glasses, as well as £20,000 worth of accommodation, from Waheed Alli, the former chair of online fashion retailer Asos.
The PM also received a £4,000 ticket from the Football Association to see Taylor Swift at Wembley Stadium. It also emerged that he had failed to declare a gift of clothes for his wife Victoria from Lord Alli.
The UK negotiated two major trade deals under Sir Keir, with a third coming in the form of a ‘Brexit reset’ with the EU.
The UK-India trade agreement was years in the making, but was finally signed in 2025. It represents a £25.5bn boost to trade, according to government estimates.
Meanwhile, as Donald Trump unleashed tariffs across the world in May 2025, the UK came out relatively unscathed – a feat that was largely attributed to Sir Keir’s negotiations with his US counterpart.
But maintaining a positive relationship with Trump remained a defining challenge during the former prime minister’s tenure – one he is unlikely to miss – as he navigated the US president’s often unpredictable and reactive leadership style.
This came to a head in February, when the United States launched a barrage of airstrikes on Iran, prompting a major conflict in the region. The situation promoted the Iranian regime to blockade the Strait of Hormuz – a key waterway for the global oil trade – hitting economies across the world.
The prime minister refused calls from the Trump administration to back the action, prompting a furious response from the US president. Over the past few months, Trump has said that Sir Keir is “no Winston Churchill”, and, asked about the UK-US ‘special relationship’ said: “It's the relationship where, when we asked them for help, they were not there.”
The US president has also threatened to renege on trade agreements with the UK, which he says can “always be changed”.