Keir Starmer Steps Down as Andy Burnham Negotiates Power Transfer in London

Keir Starmer announced Monday that he would step down as Labour leader and prime minister, saying he would remain in his post until any leadership contest is completed to help ensure an orderly handover of power.

“A decade on from Brexit, the new PM has big calls to make on Europe With its nostalgically-painted, golden-maned horses, wistful French chanson music wafting as it turns, the Carrousel de St Pierre, by the venerated Sacre Coeur Church, is a firm favourite amongst tourists to Paris”

BBC

The leadership challenge has frozen major decisions at the top of the British government after Andy Burnham met Starmer to negotiate a transfer of power before any formal contest has been held.

BBC

In London, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage demanded an election and clashed with reporters on the BBC and ITV over questions about a £5 million ($9.5 million) gift he received two years ago from cryptocurrency investor Christopher Harborne, who is based in Thailand.

Starmer’s resignation also set up a transition that leaves Britain facing a high-stakes NATO summit in Turkey on July 7 and 8, while an EU-U.K. summit planned for July 22 was canceled, leaving a “glaring hole at the top of British diplomacy.”

The Guardian argued that a new prime minister must avoid dwelling on issues that dominate the Westminster news cycle at the expense of international affairs, warning that deferral of engagement with Brexit’s uncertain place in the world would be a strategic blunder.

It said Starmer’s foreign-policy focus consumed huge amounts of his time after he “suppressed discussion of Brexit in the 2024 election campaign,” and it pointed to the need for closer alignment with continental neighbours.

CNBC

POLITICO.eu reported that before Starmer can even get to Ankara, he would have to decide whether he can still publish the long-awaited Defence Investment Plan (DIP), with a government official saying the Ministry of Defense is still working towards launching the DIP before the NATO meeting.

The same POLITICO.eu account quoted Simon Case saying: “Keir Starmer will go to the NATO summit, and sadly, he will be irrelevant,” as uncertainty over defense investments and shifts in personnel raised concern for partners.

The transition timeline in Britain is being shaped by Labour leadership procedures, with nominations opening on July 9 and closing one week later, while Starmer said he wanted the new leader confirmed by the time Parliament returns on September 1 from its break over the northern summer.

“United Kingdom: So what now”

El Mundo

SMH.au said Starmer held a cabinet meeting on Tuesday to continue normal business despite the leadership moves that mean Britain will have its seventh prime minister in a decade.

The Guardian’s editorial framed the stakes for the next prime minister as the need to drive an agenda through the machinery of government rather than “bouncing from one crisis to the next,” and it warned that taking office without clear priorities risks drift and loss of control.

In the BBC’s account of EU diplomacy, Michel Barnier told the BBC: “We have to deal with this situation and respect it,” adding that the EU would work with whichever UK prime minister takes the dancefloor to represent them.