From victory to resignation: How Keir Starmer lost his mandate in just 20 months| WION Decodes

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced his resignation on Monday (June 22) after spending less than two years in office. He becomes the seventh British prime minister to leave office in the last 10 years, a statistic that makes UK politics look less like a stable democracy. Speaking at a press briefing, Starmer said he had “heard the answer” from his party and accepted it “with good grace”. He said, “I will resign as leader of the Labour Party.”

Rise of Starmer and foray into politics

Starmer led the UK Labour Party to a landslide victory in general election held in July 2024, but severe economic struggles, unpopular welfare cuts, and a major political scandal regarding the appointment of Peter Mandelson led to his downfall

Starmer was a human rights lawyer but his foray into politics began after being elected as the MP for Holborn and St Pancras in 2015

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He took over the Labour Party leadership from Jeremy Corbyn in 2020 when voters had handed Labour their biggest drubbing since 1935. But he drove his party to a massive success in July 2024 winning 174 parliamentary seats, complete majority, in the general elections and became the Prime Minister.

Dwindling popularity and the Mandelson crisis

But the honeymoon period did not last long as unpopular policies such as cut in winter fuel payments for pensioners, rise in certain taxes, and early prisoner release rapidly dwindled his popularity among voters.

One of the biggest blows to Starmer came in the form of him appointing Peter Mandelson as UK's ambassador to the United States. Mandelson had ties to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein and had allegedly passed government information to him in the late 2000s. And when the Epstein files was released by the Trump government in September 2025 his ties to Epstein became even more clearer.

Though Starmer took immediate steps and fired Mandelson, it was too late. The UK Prime Minister's popularity had waned till then and his leadership was in trouble.

The Mandelson crisis along with unpopular policies gave Labour Party a drubbing in the recently concluded local election.

And a full-scale parliamentary rebellion sparked by the return of popular rival Andy Burnham, who secured a commanding victory in the high-stakes Makerfield by-election on June 18, 2026 completely destroyed Starmers authority. Demands for his resignation started to become louder, also within his party.

Starmer steps down

Under immense pressure from his party and the dwindling support from the People of Britain forced Starmer to resign on Monday (June 22), just two years after leading the Labour Party back to power and ending the Conservative Party’s 14-year hold on government.

His resignation adds another chapter to political turbulence in Britain in the last one decade. Britain has seen prime ministers come and putting Indian coalition politics also to shame.