Starmer latest: PM expected to announce resignation plan as Burnham heads to Westminster

As the prospect of Sir Keir Starmer’s resignation looms over the start of the coming week like the heatwave, one thing strikes me above all else. Whenever conversation does grudgingly turn to the prospect of a contest rather than a coronation for Andy Burnham, the key players are all men, writes Kat Brown.

Notwithstanding Labour’s glaringly obvious reluctance to vote for women in leadership contests, let alone get behind one as leader, this feels like the Starmer drama has caused memory leaks in the PLP.

I know a lot’s been going on, but let’s try and cast our minds back a whole five months to February, when Labour was in the grips of the Mandelson scandal. Starmer met with the Women’s PLP to “discuss” the boys’ club culture in his government that had factored in Peter Mandelson’s appointment. Harriet Harman told the PM he needed to “transform the political culture in government around women and girls”.

Starmer’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, eventually resigned over Mandelson’s appointment. Yet, just four months later, The i Paper reported three Government sources as saying he was back, advising Starmer over the phone. And on Friday week Baroness Harman was back to say what we really should all be thinking: “There must be a woman in the contest”, she told Radio 4’s Today programme. “We cannot have a male beauty parade again.”

Read the full piece here:

US president Donald Trump has said that Sir Keir Starmer “will resign” as prime minister, accusing him of “failing badly” on immigration and energy.

Writing on social media platform Truth Social on Sunday, Mr Trump said: “Keir Starmer will resign as prime minister of the United Kingdom. He failed badly on two very important subjects – immigration and energy (Open North Sea oil!). I wish him well! President DJT”.

The post is thought to be based on media reports as the two have not spoken this weekend.

Preet Kaur Gill, Labour MP for Birmingham Edgbaston, has criticised her fellow parliamentarians for indulging in “far too much Westminster gossip”.

Writing on X on Sunday afternoon, she wrote: “There is far too much Westminster gossip and not enough focus on the people we are here to serve. The public expect us to focus on the job we were elected to do, not indulge in endless internal noise.”

Changing leader “will invite incessant demands for an early general election”, Labour ally of Sir Keir Starmer warns.

Writing in Labour List, Michael Payne, MP for Gedling, said on Sunday that replacing Sir Keir as prime minister would “risk distracting the government from the work of national renewal.”

He continued: “Whether you think changing leader is a mistake or not Labour’s responsibility is to remain focused on delivering for the country that elected us to govern. The British people elected a Labour government to govern, not to spend its time indulging Westminster psychodrama.

“And while our political opponents – not least Nigel Farage and those who would happily reverse the progress we have made – seek to talk Britain down, Labour should never lose confidence in what we have achieved together.”

Neil Coyle, Labour MP for Bermondsey, has said that Sir Keir Starmer is a victim of “an utter stitch-up”.

Posting on X on Sunday, Mr Coyle said: “My members are livid about the prospect of an utter stitch-up and the media circus being rewarded. When the next leader cannot change Trump, Iran, Ukraine, Putin, Musk, broadcast editorial and algorithm bias overnight they’ll bay for his blood too. Better keep that guillotine sharp.”

As a nation waits on a potential announcement by Sir Keir Starmer tomorrow, discussions are already taking place over what happens next, with some debating the timeline for Andy Burnham possibly becoming PM.

A source told The Independent that the prime minister is now “working towards” a handover in early September after the summer recess, but MPs have also suggested it could be as early as mid-July.

But Clive Lewis, Labour MP for Norwich South, has told The Telegraph that Mr Burnham should take the time to prepare properly for power.

He said: “Starmer failed to do this. And as my dad always used to drill into me before exams – fail to prepare then prepare to fail.”

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch played a “critical” role in the party’s victory in the Aberdeen South by-election, Russell Findlay has said.

The Scottish Conservative leader said people in the seat had recognised the vote was “effectively a referendum on oil and gas”, and the victory came after a “huge team effort” from the party.

The Conservatives took Aberdeen South from the SNP in emphatic fashion, with Douglas Lumsden elected as the new MP after winning by more than 6,000 votes.

It was the party’s first by-election victory in Scotland since 1967. Mr Findlay said voters were drawn to the Tories’ message on oil and gas.

He told the BBC’s The Sunday Show: “The people of Aberdeen knew this was effectively a referendum on oil and gas.

“Kemi Badenoch and I are crystal clear. We wanted to give the people of Aberdeen the choice to say No to the net zero madness of Labour and the SNP.

“We want an affordable transition, but it cannot come at the cost of thousands of jobs and destroying an entire industry, and that’s why people came out with record numbers to vote for our candidate, Douglas Lumsden, an oil and gas champion, who will go down to Westminster and take that message directly to Keir Starmer or whoever might be in Downing Street next.”

Former prime minister Rishi Sunak has warned Andy Burnham that he could see his support drain away if he takes the highest office.

Writing in a column for The Times, the former Tory leader warned that all leaders across Europe are facing pressure to deliver faster than ever.

He said: “Political capital depreciates more quickly than ever before. That Starmer and Merz are both facing such leadership speculation less than two years after winning elections is an illustration of that.

“Burnham must recognise that if he reaches No 10, he’ll never have more power than on his first day in the job. It is vital he has a clear and achievable plan for what he wants to do in those opening hours.”

It is fair to say that when Labour wins a by-election there is usually a photo call invite to Labour MPs when the winner arrives in parliament, writes Political Editor David Maddox.

But this one has been received differently. An invitation for the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) office has gone out for a photo call with Andy Burnham at 3pm in Westminster Hall on Monday.

With an expectation that prime minister Sir Keir Starmer is working up a deal to hand over the leadership of the party and his job as PM over to Mr Burnham the invitation is already being described as “a coronation.”

Normally most MPs do not make it to these photo calls but this one is expected to have almost everyone present. The 3pm timing is conveniently after the morning time that the prime minister is expected to make his fateful announcement at the podium in Downing Street that he is to relinquish power.

The only issue now maybe is if enough MPs back an alternative candidate to run against Mr Burnham in a contest. Otherwise the photo call may as well be a coronation.

Concerns are growing around suggestions that Sir Keir Starmer could wait until September to step down, despite reports that the prime minister could announce a timetable as early as Monday.

One minister has told The Times that Andy Burnham’s premiership could be “defined by Starmer’s decisions” if the handover does not happen until the autumn.

There are Nato and EU summits next month, where key decisions on defence spending, will need to be made, The Times’s Aubrey Allegretti writes.

One MP said: “A summer of waiting is stupid and incredibly self-indulgent”.