# Keir Starmer > UK's sixth prime minister in a decade, Starmer took Labour from a 2024 landslide to resignation in June 2026 under Reform UK pressure and a cabinet defence revolt. **Meta:** type: reference · date: 2026-07-03 · heads: · 5 takes · 5 lenses · 3 regions ## What it is Sir Keir Starmer KCB KC is the UK's outgoing Labour Prime Minister, in office from 5 July 2024 until his successor is confirmed in mid-July or September 2026. He holds the Holborn and St Pancras seat in the UK Parliament and remains leader of the UK Labour Party pending the outcome of the 2026 leadership contest. Before entering UK politics, Starmer built a senior legal career: called to the bar in 1987, appointed Queen's Counsel in 2002, and named Director of Public Prosecutions in 2008, heading the Crown Prosecution Service until 2013. The role gave him a national profile on criminal justice, and he was knighted in January 2014 for services to law and criminal justice. He won the Holborn and St Pancras seat for Labour in 2015 and succeeded Jeremy Corbyn as UK Labour leader in April 2020. ## History Starmer became UK PM on 5 July 2024, the day after Labour's landslide general election victory on 4 July 2024, ending 14 years of Conservative government. His early moves included scrapping the Rwanda asylum deportation scheme, which he declared "dead and buried" on 6 July 2024. He prioritised NHS reform over new NHS spending. In February 2025, his government brought forward the UK's 2.5%-of-GDP defence spending target from 2030 to April 2027, responding to NATO pressure and the European rearmament wave. The November 2025 UK budget, delivered by Chancellor Rachel Reeves, raised taxes and confirmed the end of the two-child Universal Credit limit from April 2026, but left UK Office for Budget Responsibility fiscal headroom tight. Dismal May 2026 UK local elections, combined with the June 11, 2026 resignations of Defence Secretary John Healey and Armed Forces Minister Al Carns over the pace and funding of defence spending, collapsed Starmer's authority inside the UK Labour Party. He announced his resignation on 22 June 2026. ## Current state As of 3 July 2026, Starmer remains UK caretaker Prime Minister. Andy Burnham, former mayor of Greater Manchester, is the sole declared candidate to succeed him, with nominations opening 9 July and closing 16 July; if uncontested, Burnham could be confirmed by around 17 July. Starmer's last major act in office was publishing the UK's Defence Investment Plan on 30 June 2026, committing £298 billion to defence over 2026-27 to 2029-30 and targeting 3.5% of GDP by 2035, detailed in [UK commits nearly £300 billion to defence over four years, targeting 2.7% of GDP by 2028 and 3.5% by 2035](/en/n/uk-defence-investment-jun30). As mapped in [Starmer quits, handing Britain its seventh prime minister in a decade](/en/n/uk-starmer-resignation), the incoming leader will be Britain's seventh prime minister in a decade. ## Relationships Rachel Reeves, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, authored the fiscal rules that defined the government's economic constraints. Her continuation under Burnham is an open question, and UK gilt markets are tracking it closely. The [June 11 resignations](/en/n/uk-defence-resignations-trigger) of Healey and Carns over defence funding signalled the cabinet fracture that made Starmer's position untenable. Reform UK, led by Nigel Farage, pushed Labour into second place in May 2026 UK local elections and took 34.5% of the vote in Burnham's Makerfield by-election on 18 June, finishing second. That external electoral threat, sustained across Starmer's two years in office, is the structural force his Labour never resolved. Andy Burnham's path to the premiership is detailed in [Burnham closes on Downing Street as the Labour contest turns to a coronation](/en/n/uk-burnham-leadership-coronation). ## What to watch Whether Burnham, once confirmed as UK PM, sustains the defence spending trajectory Starmer locked in on June 30. How Reform UK performs in national polls under new Labour leadership, given that the Makerfield result showed it competitive even in a Labour stronghold. Whether Rachel Reeves remains UK Chancellor after the handover, since her departure would put fiscal rules and gilt market confidence directly in play. ## Regional takes (batched by bias / lens) ### official record - **GOV.UK (HM Government)** (United Kingdom, en) — Official UK government profile of Starmer: PM from 5 July 2024, DPP 2008-2013, knighted 2014; authoritative record of his roles and tenure dates. Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/people/keir-starmer ### international explainer - **Al Jazeera** (Qatar, en) — Explains the drivers of Starmer's June 2026 exit: dismal UK local elections, cabinet departures, Reform UK surge, and succession timetable; situates it in European centre-left decline. Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/6/22/why-has-keir-starmer-resigned-as-uk-prime-minister-and-who-will-take-over ### US public broadcaster - **NPR** (United States, en) — Frames the UK resignation as Britain's seventh PM in a decade; details contest mechanics, Burnham's Makerfield by-election win as qualifying springboard, and nominations timeline. Source: https://www.npr.org/2026/06/22/nx-s1-5866231/keir-starmer-resigns ### reference biography - **Britannica** (United States, en) — Reference profile covering Starmer's legal career, DPP tenure at the Crown Prosecution Service, 2020 Labour leadership election, and path to UK PM. Source: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Keir-Starmer ### US news magazine - **Time** (United States, en) — Covers Starmer's resignation statement, context of Reform UK's rise in UK polling, and Burnham's emergence as frontrunner to lead Labour. Source: https://time.com/article/2026/06/22/uk-prime-minister-keir-starmer-resignation-reports-burnham-leadership-potential/ ## Across the graph - Related: [[uk-defence-investment-jun30]], [[uk-starmer-resignation]], [[uk-burnham-leadership-coronation]], [[uk-defence-resignations-trigger]] - Entities: Person:keir Starmer, Labour Party, United Kingdom, Reform UK, Person:andy Burnham --- Canonical: https://rbtfl.xyz/en/n/keir-starmer-dossier