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After plummeting approval ratings and party pressure, Sir Keir Starmer, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, has resigned. Where to now for the UK?

The British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has just announced his resignation. In office for less than two years, he will soon be replaced. Andy Burnham, the former Manchester mayor, has challenged Starmer to become his replacement. That follows on from Burnham winning the Makerfield by-election of 18 June. That return to Parliament meant he could challenge Starmer for the top job (even though he has not yet been sworn in).

After the recent local council elections held in May which were so disastrous for Starmer and Labour and so good for Farage and Reform UK, the writing was on the wall for Starmer. Bear in mind that the conservatives had previously been in power for 14 years, starting with David Cameron and ending with Rishi Sunak.

So when Starmer got elected with such a big winning margin almost two years ago, so much was expected of him. But his rule was one of stumbling and bumbling, with things like rising immigration and rising energy costs a major concern, his appointment of Lord Mandelson as the UK’s ambassador to the US who had deep ties to Jeffrey Epstein, to name but a few.

He had simply become so very unpopular for far too many Brits. So now we will have six British Prime Ministers in seven years! Indeed, it will be seven Prime Ministers in ten years. The names are these:

David Cameron: 2010 – 2016 (Conservative)
Theresa May: 2016 – 2019 (Conservative)
Boris Johnson: 2019 – 2022 (Conservative)
Liz Truss: September 2022 – October 2022 (Conservative)
Rishi Sunak: 2022 – 2024 (Conservative)
Keir Starmer: July 2024 – 2026 (Labour)
Andy Burnham (?): 2026 (Labour)

Burnham Next?

Starmer will go on through to July at least, with a July 8 nomination process beginning. A successor will hopefully soon be chosen by then. Indeed, a new man for the top job will be necessary before Parliament will resume sitting in September after the summer recess finishes.

Assuming it will be Burnham, questions arise. The 56-year-old will have to somehow show the UK and the world that Labour under his leadership will be different from Labour under Starmer. He has no clear policies, and whether he just seeks to keep the status quo or branch off in quite new directions remains to be seen. But he will not be moving to the right. If anything, he will go further left than Starmer.

Burnham twice lost Labour leadership votes – in 2010 and 2015. So he has little past history of winning anything of substance. He may replace Starmer simply because the latter was so universally disliked, even by most of his own party. If he gets in, and with no real policies on offer, many are already calling for a general election to be held soon.

I will update this piece in the hours and days ahead by posting some further political commentary on how things pan out. But in the meantime, I offer the following.

Spiritual Considerations

As I often say at times like this, I pray daily for many of our political leaders. A major prayer of mine is simple: I ask God to improve or remove these folks. By that I mean help them to get so much better (including by means of them becoming Christians), or seeing them removed from office, however that might occur.

That can include illness or death, resignation, or by being voted out of office, and so on. So my prayer list goes up and down in length, with names being added to or removed from the list. Starmer’s name will now be replaced by another’s – possibly by Burnham’s.

I encourage you to also pray for our political leaders. As the Apostle Paul put it in 1 Timothy 2:1–2: “I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people — for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.”

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Republished with thanks to CultureWatch. Originally titled “Starmer Is Now Gone”

Image via Wikimedia Commons.