LONDON, June 19, (V7N) – UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who swept to power in July 2024 promising to end years of political chaos, now faces a likely leadership challenge from popular party veteran Andy Burnham after the Greater Manchester mayor won a decisive by-election in the northwest. Starmer insisted on Friday that "there's more to do and that's what I'm focusing on" as he faced calls from some Labour MPs to step down to avoid a bitter leadership contest.
Starmer, born on September 2, 1962, was raised in a small semi-detached house on the outskirts of London. He enjoyed a successful career as a human rights lawyer and chief state prosecutor, earning a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II. He became an MP in 2015 and succeeded Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader five years later, moving the party back to the centre ground and delivering Labour's biggest election victory in over two decades.
However, his premiership got off to a bad start when his government announced a highly unpopular policy to remove winter fuel payments from millions of elderly people, which was not in Labour's election manifesto. He later backtracked. He was also forced into a humiliating climbdown on welfare benefits, backed down in a row with farmers over inheritance tax, and angered businesses by increasing payroll tax and the minimum wage.
His early months were dominated by a free gifts row, and in September 2025, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner resigned over underpaying property tax. That same month, Starmer sacked his ambassador to Washington, Peter Mandelson, over his friendship with the late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The appointment scandal led to the departure of two of his closest aides and contributed to humiliating local election results in May that renewed calls for his departure.
While Starmer has been praised for standing up to US President Donald Trump over the Iran war and maintaining European support for Ukraine, he has struggled against support for both the left-wing Greens and the populist Reform UK party. Starmer has one of the lowest popularity ratings ever among prime ministers at just 19 percent, according to YouGov. On Friday, he vowed not to "walk away" as leader, warning that any leadership contest would plunge the country "into chaos."
END/WD/RH/
