Sir Keir Starmer’s time as Prime Minister ends in failure
Political careers usually always end in disappointment and failure and Sir Keir Starmer had his fair share of failings. The now former Prime Minister talked about leaving the job with “good grace (and) a smile” before going to see the King and formally resign.
Starmer announced his resignation on June 22, less than two years after he won a 172-seat landslide election victory for the Labour Party, illustrating just how quickly and badly wrong it went for him.
His and Labour’s popularity plummeted with the party suffering a chastening result at the local elections earlier this year.
The former Labour leader made far too many mistakes in his two years in 10 Downing Street. Ill-thought out policies such as the family farm tax, cuts to winter fuel payments and abandoned welfare reforms all suggested that Starmer never really understood the voters who entrusted his party with such a handsome majority. At the heart of his premiership’s woes was the fact that Starmer entered Number 10 without a clear plan. As such, whatever his government did was going to prove unpopular amongst part of the electorate.
While current public opinion isn’t favourable towards Starmer, time will reflect more kindly on the former PM’s time in Downing Street. He certainly deserves credit for turning the Labour party around from one of its worst electoral performances in 2019 to the huge majority it secured at the 2024 general election.
Starmer also excelled on the international stage, helping Britain navigate some of the trickiest foreign policy hurdles in recent memory.