Keir Starmer insisted he has not been a failure as PM today as he heads to see the King and officially quit.
The outgoing premier has given a farewell address outside the famous black door of No10, just two years after winning an extraordinary election landslide.
Sir Keir said he was ‘closing the book on my time’, saying ‘my work is done’ and the country is ‘stronger’. He insisted Andy Burnham – who orchestrated a coup to secure the leadership – would have his ‘full support’.
‘I go with good grace, I go with a smile and I go proud of everything we have achieved,’ he said, thanking wife Victoria and his family.
Close Cabinet allies including David Lammy and Rachel Reeves had gathered with hundreds of aides in a sunny Downing Street to watch Sir Keir say goodbye. London Mayor Sadiq Khan was also present for the emotional moment.
The departure will leave a vacancy that will be immediately filled by Mr Burnham, who will follow him into Buckingham Palace. He is the seventh PM in just a decade.
But the former Greater Manchester Mayor is already facing a crucial moment as he names his Cabinet this afternoon.
The Labour Left is still clamouring for Ed Miliband to be made Chancellor, despite alarm from businesses and moderates. Markets have been calmer following speculation that Shabana Mahmood will get the role instead, but any surprises could prompt a panicky response.
Meanwhile, the fates of big beasts such as Angela Rayner, Wes Streeting and Yvette Cooper are due to be decided.
Resignations have begun, with prisons minister Lord Timpson announcing he is going alongside Sir Keir.
On another momentous day in UK politics:
- Mr Burnham has revealed his Alzheimer’s-hit father does not know he is going to be PM, as he vows to overhaul social care;
- The new PM has hinted at an earlier end to the freeze on the basic rate tax threshold, without saying how it would be funded;
- Mr Burnham will become the first openly Catholic PM in around 500 years, with work-arounds put in place to protect the Church of England;
- Loudspeakers have been banned near Downing Street today after protesters blighted Sir Keir’s speech announcing his resignation.
Keir Starmer is giving a farewell address outside the famous black door of No10, just two years after winning an extraordinary election landslide
Close Cabinet allies including David Lammy and Rachel Reeves had gathered with hundreds of aides in a sunny Downing Street to watch Sir Keir say goodbye
There was a hug for Chancellor Rachel Reeves – also expected to lose her job – after the speech
Sir Keir and Lady Victoria got into a car to be driven to Buckingham Palace after his speech
Keir Starmer will officially exit Downing Street today – as Britain braces to find out what an Andy Burnham premiership means
The handover comes barely a month after Mr Burnham returned to Westminster following his victory in the Makerfield by-election.
He has been installed by Labour MPs in a ‘coronation’, without a formal vote by activists – or having to spell out any policies.
Among the vague commitments laid out by the incoming PM so far are devolving power away from Westminster.
He has announced he will scrap Sir Keir’s flagship digital ID programme to focus money and attention on the cost of living.
In an interview with The Times, Mr Burnham said he had already spoken to the Treasury about his planned announcements and stressed the importance of making people ‘feel better’.
Adding that complaints about frozen tax thresholds had been ‘lodged in his mind’ since the Makerfield contest, he said: ‘So when people, they’re just characterising me as a tax raiser, well again, it’s never that simplistic is it? The breathing space point is a really serious one.’
The comments raise more questions about how Mr Burnham will pay for giveaways, after he backed a ‘land tax’ and harked back to the 1970s condemning Thatcherite reforms.
But the weekend was dominated by bungled briefing over whether the new Government will allow new oil and gas drilling in the North Sea.
The leader’s team has now confirmed he will stick to Labour’s 2024 manifesto, which promised not to issue new licences.
Instead he could merely allow expanded drilling at the Rosebank and Jackdaw sites – something that was being considered by Sir Keir’s administration.
That could bode badly for Mr Burnham’s relations with Donald Trump, who yesterday jubilantly hailed more drilling as a way of stopping Britain being a ‘poverty stricken disaster’.
Mr Burnham also faces a decision on whether to temporarily nationalise Thames Water as the firm struggles with a £20billion debt pile.
He has already expressed support for greater public control of essential services, and Thames Water’s main creditors have said they are willing to discuss the issue with his new ministers in an effort to agree a rescue deal and avoid the business falling into a so-called ‘special administration regime’.
Another priority is likely to be reforming social care, which he has said is something he wishes to ‘expend political capital’ on.
The famous black door of No10 is given a buff up as the big moment looms
The Labour Left is still clamouring for Ed Miliband to be made Chancellor, despite alarm from businesses and moderates
The fates of big beasts such as Angela Rayner, pictured on the campaign trail with Mr Burnham, are due to be decided
Kemi Badenoch warned Mr Burnham he will have to cut spending instead of increasing taxes
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has urged Mr Burnham to engage other parties to solve the ‘social care crisis’, calling for guaranteed rights for family carers, a universal safety net and protection against ‘catastrophic costs’.
Kemi Badenoch has also written to Mr Burnham, saying her party will work with him to cut the welfare bill and calling for him to rule out tax rises and back new oil and gas drilling.
Mrs Badenoch told Mr Burnham she would ‘never shirk’ from holding him to account, adding: ‘You will enter office without having set out a clear plan on any of the issues facing our country.
‘You have refused calls to come to Parliament for questions from MPs, and you have not submitted yourself to serious media scrutiny. This is not a promising start.’
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