MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
A revolving door of seven prime ministers in just 10 years. That's the state of politics in the United Kingdom. The latest, Keir Starmer, has just made this announcement.
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PRIME MINISTER KEIR STARMER: I will resign as leader of the Labour Party. I have spoken to His Majesty The King this morning to inform him of my decision.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
This means he eventually steps down as U.K. prime minister, though his party remains in power for the moment. His likely successor is Andy Burnham, the outgoing mayor of Manchester, England.
MARTIN: For more on how that transition happens and why, let's go to NPR's Lauren Frayer in London. Lauren, good morning.
LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE: Good morning, Michel.
MARTIN: So why has Starmer resigned?
FRAYER: Yeah. He was elected two years ago with a landslide majority in Parliament, and now he has the lowest approval ratings of any prime minister in U.K. history. Part of it is scandals you may have heard about - his decision to appoint Peter Mandelson, a friend of Jeffrey Epstein, as the U.K. ambassador to Washington. But part of it is Starmer's failure to connect with people and to deliver real change that he promised after 14 years of austerity under the previous Conservative Party rule - you know, improvements on cost of living and such. His own Labour Party lawmakers, his parliamentary party, began turning on him in recent weeks. And here's what he said from behind a lectern at 10 Downing Street moments ago - at some points, his voice cracking and breaking with tears and emotion.
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STARMER: The question my party is asking now is whether I am best placed to lead us into the next general election. I have heard the answer of my parliamentary party to that question, and I accept that answer with good grace.
FRAYER: Starmer said he will stay on as a caretaker prime minister, and then nominations for his successor will open on 9 July. So it will be a summer of politics here.
MARTIN: Tell us about his likely successor.
FRAYER: Yeah. So Labour MPs seem to be coalescing around Andy Burnham. He's the popular outgoing mayor of Manchester, England. He was an MP in the past - a member of Parliament - then returned home to northern England to serve as mayor in his home region. He brought economic development to postindustrial Manchester as mayor. He won a special election to Parliament last week. He's actually being sworn in to Parliament this afternoon, after which he will be eligible to challenge Starmer.
He's seen more as sort of folksy, able to connect with voters in a way that Starmer did not - perhaps slightly to the left of Starmer, more likely to sort of robustly defend a welfare state. But he will face the same headwinds - you know, rising global energy prices, strained public finances. So in a way, this is a change in personality at the top rather than policy. You know, both Burnham and Starmer are from the same party with roughly the same politics.
MARTIN: Well, Burnham would be the seventh British prime minister in 10 years. Has that revolving door had an impact?
FRAYER: Yeah. I spoke this morning with a former political secretary to former Prime Minister Tony Blair. His name is John McTernan. And he reminded me, actually, tomorrow is the 10th anniversary of the Brexit vote when Britons voted to exit the European Union. Then-Prime Minister David Cameron resigned the very next day. Brexit ultimately hurt the British economy - you know, triggered 10 years of political turmoil that we are still experiencing now.
MARTIN: That is NPR's Lauren Frayer in London. Lauren, thank you.
FRAYER: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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