United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer announces resignation

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New Delhi: United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced his resignation from both the designation as the PM and the leader of Labour Party.

“I step down knowing the Labour Party needs a new direction and leader for the country for the next general election,” he said outside Downing Street, which he’s still commanding as prime minister.

“I have informed The King on Tuesday that I am resigning as Leader of the Labour Party and I have asked the Party’s National Executive Committee to trigger procedures to elect a new leader in a process which will begin after I leave on the eighth of July with nomination which I believe will run until the 9th of July. “We’ll have a new leader by the time parliament rises for summer,”

he revealed, before adding he would “remain the local MP in my constituency until that election and serving as prime minister until the contest is over.

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“And I will continue to serve the country in some other capacity and help my successor,” he said as he explained “the UK I leave behind… will be in my own estimation, so much stronger and so much fairer than the one that I inherited.”

Sir Keir was elected to the role in April 2020, then stepped up to the helm of government two years ago and is the seventh PM the UK has had since 2016. “There is one most important decision for any prime minister… to put their family first… and now I can go and do that; return home to the most important job that there is and to be the best possible husband I can be to Vic the rock and to my wonderful children,” he added, with a tear falling as his wife stood next to him.

Political pressure on Starmer has intensified in recent months. The crisis escalated sharply after Labour Party rival Andy Burnham won a parliamentary seat, a development that could place him at the forefront as a potential leader for Labour. Starmer’s grip on power had been weakened by disastrous local election results and his decision to appoint the Jeffrey Epstein-associated Peter Mandelson as the UK’s envoy to the US.

Following consultations with cabinet colleagues, advisers, donors, and trade union leaders, Starmer concluded that his position was becoming untenable.

Also Read: UK PM Keir Starmer announces ban on social media for children under 16

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