British Prime Minister Starmer fights to hold on to power amid reports of resignation plans

Government Rejects Speculation

Kyle also told the BBC: "I don't want to pretend here that there is no process, no forces challenging the Prime Minister as party leader - that is clearly the case." A source at 10 Downing Street also told the "Observer" that the assumption Starmer might resign was "just speculation."

Meanwhile, Labour MPs are increasing the pressure on the head of government. According to the news agency PA, more than 100 Labour MPs are demanding Starmer's resignation - roughly a quarter of the parliamentary party in the House of Commons. The British newspaper "The Guardian" wrote on Sunday that Starmer would announce his resignation as early as Monday, "after enormous pressure from Labour MPs to clear the way for Andy Burnham to become Labour party leader."

Pressure from the Labour Parliamentary Party

Burnham, who enjoys popularity as Mayor of Manchester, had clearly won the by-election for a seat in the British House of Commons in the northern English constituency of Makerfield with just under 55 percent of the vote. This means he can now formally apply for the leadership of the Labour Party. The team of the 56-year-old says he already has half of the current 403 Labour MPs behind him. According to the report, Burnham's supporters claim he has now secured the support of more than 201 Labour MPs.

The Labour parliamentarians put enormous pressure on Starmer to clear the way for his intra-party rival Burnham to take over as Labour leader, "The Guardian" wrote this Sunday. Former Transport Secretary Louise Haigh, a Burnham supporter, said over the weekend: "We very much hope that this will be an orderly and controlled transition, that Keir Starmer reflects on the results, and that Andy and Keir will meet in the coming days and agree on a common way forward within the next week."

Burnham as Challenger

The "Sunday Telegraph" reported, citing allies of the embattled Prime Minister, that he was "ready" to go. The paper quotes a source close to Starmer as saying the Prime Minister would arrange "a deliberate long march in an orderly manner, out of a sense of duty and dignity." Another Labour heavyweight told the paper that the Prime Minister now appeared "resigned."

Former minister Alan Johnson spoke in stark terms on broadcaster LBC. "I would say it's over, Keir," he replied when asked what he would advise the head of government if he called him. "Keir has realized that the game is up, and it has to be a dignified exit." At the same time, Johnson stressed the "harsh reality." Johnson also said: "He is a clever man, he knows that he will go down in the history books forever as the man who led the Labour Party in just five years from the second-worst result in its history to the second-best result in its history."

Criticism from Within the Ranks

Harsh criticism of Starmer also comes from Geoff Mulgan, the former head of the policy unit in 10 Downing Street under Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair. In an interview with STANDARD, the Labour thinker gets to the heart of what senior civil servants and ministers have been saying off the record for months in London: "Starmer does not master the political craft." "His judgment of people is not good." Mulgan is particularly angered by the lack of good planning in Starmer's circle. "The fact that the Prime Minister's innermost team lacks the right mix of abilities reflects back on him."

Starmer is also facing headwinds from abroad. US President Donald Trump wrote on his platform Truth Social: "Keir Starmer wird als Premierminister des Vereinigten Königreichs zurücktreten". At the same time, Trump sharply criticized the British head of government: Starmer had "kläglich versagt - Einwanderung und Energie". Trump added: "Ich wünsche ihm alles Gute." The US President did not say what he was basing his remarks on. He himself said he had had an "open" conversation with the British Prime Minister on Friday.

International Reactions and Outlook

Starmer, who was elected to office in July 2024, had recently been battling several affairs and a painful defeat for his Labour Party in the local and regional elections in May. Two years after his election victory, he is struggling with historically poor polling numbers. Should Starmer stick to his previous stance of ruling out a resignation despite all the speculation, Burnham is likely to trigger the process for a leadership election very soon.

The head of government did not let it show, at least on social media, that the pressure on him had grown massively in the last 48 hours. "Being a father is my greatest joy," he wrote.

A side issue in the government crisis is likely to be the election of Burnham's successor as Mayor of the Greater Manchester metropolitan region. In addition, Reform UK, the right-wing conservative party of Nigel Farage, is growing stronger in the polls. The independent Lord Jim O'Neill has spoken out in favor of reforming the increasingly unaffordable guarantee for pensioners to receive an inflation-adjusted increase in their pension every year, regardless of economic circumstances.

The resignation statement of the 66-year-old Labour veteran contained the devastating verdict that Starmer is endangering "die Sicherheit des Landes" through his indecisiveness and lack of defense spending. A prominent Labour member told the newspaper: "Es gibt offensichtlich Nachteile, aber wir sind, wo wir sind." "Ich glaube, er hat begonnen, es als die pflichtbewusste Option zu sehen, um dem Land und der Partei zu dienen." What he rightly wants to avoid is humiliation, "aber die schlimmste Demütigung für Keir persönlich wäre, wenn er in einer Führungswahl antritt und schwer geschlagen wird".