UK PM Keir Starmer on cusp of resigning, report

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer
Is Keir Starmer is about to throw in the towel? -AP

British ‌Prime Minster Keir Starmer is ‌expected to resign and set out a timetable for his departure, the ‌Observer ‌newspaper ⁠reports.

However, a government ‌source said Starmer remained focused on getting on with the job of governing.

The threat to Starmer's position, which has been building for months, increased sharply on Friday when ‌his rival ‌Andy Burnham ⁠won a seat in parliament that would ​allow him to launch a formal leadership challenge.

The Observer ​said Starmer would quit on Monday after reaching the conclusion that his position was no longer tenable after ⁠speaking ‌to cabinet minister, ​advisers, donors and trade ​union leaders.

Starmer was ​discussing the matter with his wife Victoria at his Chequers ​country ​residence ​before making a ‌final decision, but that senior Labour figures expected a clear statement on his future ​as early as Monday, the ‌report said. 

However, a ‌government source said Starmer remained focused on his job ​and pointed to previous statements he had made to that effect.

The British leader said on Friday ​he ​would fight any challenge ​to his position and urged Labour ‌not to tear itself apart with infighting.

More than 100 MPs in his party - roughly a quarter of all Labour representatives in the House of Commons - have publicly ​said they want Starmer to quit or set ​out a timetable ⁠for his departure.

Starmer led the centre-left Labour party to a landslide election win in 2024 but has become deeply unpopular after a series of scandals and policy U-turns that have given many voters an overall impression that he cannot deliver the improvement to their standards of living that he promised.

If he were to quit or be ousted, it would mean the country installing its seventh prime minister in just ⁠over a decade - the highest turnover in nearly two centuries, reflective of anger at successive ‌governments' failures ​to improve public services and tackle issues like illegal immigration.

Burnham, a 56-year-old career politician, is seen by many in Labour ​as ​the most likely successor to Starmer - whether through a negotiated ​transfer of power or a formal leadership contest.

Having built a power ‌base within Labour as mayor of Greater Manchester in northern England, he comfortably saw off the threat from Nigel Farage's right-wing populist party to win an election for a vacant parliamentary seat on Friday.

Burnham did not immediately make a formal challenge to Starmer but used his victory address to promise a new path for the country. His allies have urged Starmer to agree to step down and hand over power voluntarily.