Starmer resigns: chronicle of a political fall foretold

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Keir Starmer, put an end to the long crisis that plagued his mandate this Monday with his resignation, after giving in to internal pressures due to lack of leadership, his continuous changes in position and several controversies in his cabinet, in addition to a series of electoral debacles that have precipitated his fall at the height of the rise of the far-right Reform UK, led by Nigel Farage.

Starmer ends up being a new piece of voracious British politics, which has crushed six leaders in the last decade, when this Tuesday marks ten years since the referendum for the country’s exit from the European Union.

In a speech from Downing Street and after vindicating the changes initiated since 2024, when he swept the general elections championing the return of decency to British politics after the turbulent period of Boris Johnson and the mistake of his Tory successors Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, he announced his resignation as head of the British Executive, which will become effective at the end of July when the internal process in the Labor Party that formally begins on the 9th concludes. of July.

“It is the conclusion of a story that was already announced for several months, of the constant loss of credibility with respect to its people, the Labor Party members and the political representatives of the party but also with respect to British society,” says Moisés Ruiz, professor of Communication and Political Leadership at the European University, who considers that Starmer is a new victim of the “disaster” of Brexit, a process that in his opinion has plunged British citizens into confusion, uncertainty and disappointment.

Thus, he comes to speak of the British leader as “a political corpse for months.” “He was castled in a position while the Labor Party itself was demanding his resignation. He was no longer leading, there was no trust or credibility, both in his ways and in his decisions,” he summarizes.

CRUSHING ELECTORAL VICTORY IN 2024

Starmer, who arrived with the momentum of an overwhelming majority after winning 412 seats, compared to 121 for the Conservative Party – this being the worst result of the party in its modern history – soon had to face criticism of the lack of ideological direction and political charisma and was chaining different crises that have damaged his image as a leader.

Considered from the ‘soft wing’ of the left of the Labor Party, problems began to arise shortly after taking office. At first, his strategy of social cuts, which he had to reverse in the face of criticism in his own ranks, or his heavy hand on migration are issues that were not fully understood within the Labor Party, with the impression that the prime minister was not finding his tone and that he had representation in Westminster far above his popularity.

All in a devilish British political scene marked by the rise of Reform UK, Farage’s party, one of the main architects of Brexit and which would win the elections in the United Kingdom if they were called soon, according to the latest projections of voting intentions.

EPSTEIN CASE

Adding to Starmer’s indecisive and unsteady positions were the tentacles of the case of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, after the relations of his former ambassador to the United States Peter Mandelson with the billionaire came to light, as well as numerous shadows regarding the process of electing the politician himself as diplomatic representative in Washington. The prime minister was forced to apologize publicly for the trust placed in Mandelson, while shortly afterwards the focus was on the irregularities and lack of reviews to appoint him ambassador.

With his image greatly deteriorated, the scandal took down his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, and several positions in the Foreign Ministry, while internal criticism grew and the leader of the Scottish Labor Party, Anas Sarwa, asked him to step aside, considering it a hindrance to the work of the Executive.

In any case, the element that determined his departure came on May 7 after the Labor debacle in the local elections, in which the crisis became evident with the loss of hundreds of councilors throughout England, including in strongholds such as Birmingham, and significant setbacks in the parliaments of Scotland and Wales, leaving them very far from the percentage of the vote in the 2024 general elections.

Thus, the electoral collapse only accelerated the debate on the succession with the revolt of dozens of deputies and government officials who called for the departure of Starmer and the opening of an internal process, with the figure of the Minister of Health Wes Streeting as the main critic in the cabinet while the spotlight began to look north, where the mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, was running for the by-elections in Makerfield, but not before a tug-of-war with the leadership of the Labor Party for a candidacy that, if successful, would open the stage for primaries, which require the candidate to be a member of the British Parliament and gather 80 supports.

At this point it did not help that former Prime Minister Tony Blair undermined the Chief Executive’s lack of direction, ensuring that he lacked a clear government plan and joining the voices calling for an internal debate within Labor to “choose a direction.”

In this way, the dizzying political scene has been precipitated in recent weeks with a new important resignation within the Government, that of John Healy, Minister of Defence, who alleged differences with Starmer over military spending plans, at a time when security and defense have risen to the top of the political agenda.

All as a preamble to the Makerfield elections last week which, far from being a local dispute, have ended up catapulting Burnham as a Labor figure called to reverse the decline of the Executive and revitalize the party at the height of Farage. His favoritism has been confirmed after Streeting confirmed this Monday that he will not compete in the primaries and has offered his support to Burnham.

According to Moisés Ruiz, Burnham emerges “with great strength” after her victory in the by-elections, which has generated “confidence” among the dissatisfied and raised the pressure to a point that was unaffordable for the prime minister. “The Labor Party has already seen that there is a visible candidate who can recover the lost votes,” he maintains.

Streeting himself has indicated that the Makerfield elections have shown that the Labor Party can still win “if it has the courage to change.” “It was a victory of unity and hope over division and hatred. It was also a victory for Andy Burnham,” he indicated, to emphasize that his ideas have a place under the leadership of the former mayor of Manchester. In any case, it remains to be seen whether the crisis of British Labor is due to a simple question of charisma and is resolved with a change of face, since Burnham is attributed political positions similar to those of Starmer.

In the opinion of the professor from the European University, the political crisis in the United Kingdom can only be faced through the leadership of a politician “with vision, charismatic and who drags the population towards making correct decisions”, while remembering the “tremendous mistake” of the United Kingdom’s departure from the EU and that the economic and social indicators are worse than ten years ago.