SIR Keir Starmer today announced he will QUIT as Prime Minister and fold to a growing Labour mutiny after just two years in power.

Andy Burnham is the clear favourite to succeed him as more MPs swing behind his leadership claim after last week’s by-election triumph.

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Sir Keir Starmer has resigned as Prime Minister

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham is gunning for PM Credit: Getty

Andy Burnham of the Labour Party reacts following his victory in the Makerfield by-election Credit: Reuters

Sir Keir made the decision after consulting with his wife Victoria Credit: AP

Sir Keir will become the sixth premier to resign in the past decade when he formally steps down in the coming months.

A succession of Cabinet Ministers had joined Labour MPs in demanding he quits following months of turmoil and historic unpopularity.

The embattled PM had been insisting for weeks he would fight the inevitable leadership challenge and claimed he had a five-year mandate from his landslide election win in July 2024.

But he threw in the towel today after concluding with allies and wife Victoria over the weekend that he has no realistic chance of survival. 

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The announcement outside No10 fires the starting gun on a party leadership contest.

Mr Burnham, who returns to Westminster today after nine years as Manchester Mayor, has marshalled around 200 Labour MP backers.

Burnham in front of supporters during the by-election in Makerfield Credit: AP

Health Secretary Wes Streeting was among those demanding he step down Credit: PA

But rivals are desperate to deny him a “coronation” that would see him sail into Downing Street without laying out a blueprint for government. 

Allies of Wes Streeting say he is still “minded” to stand but doubts are growing he has the 81 MPs required to enter a contest. 

The former Health Secretary has emerged as a contender for Mr Burnham’s Chancellor.

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper is also weighing up a bid and thinks she can draw support from female MPs who want a woman to stand.

Sir Keir is said to be furious with Mr Burnham and the pair have not spoken since the Makerfield result.

Polling shows that if the PM did decide to fight a leadership contest he would be defeated by Mr Burnham among the Labour membership.

Starmer makes contact with political gravity

By Jack Elsom, Political Editor
Theresa May blubbed. David Cameron ho-hummed a little tune. Liz Truss was weirdly smiley. 
Prime Ministers resign in their own way but each time is a cruel process of coming to terms with your fate as a busted flush.
One day you’re striding the world stage as a G7 leader, the next you can’t rely on even the lowliest backbencher to say a good word about you.  
It would have been a wrench for Sir Keir Starmer to accept that – four years toiling in opposition and two years flailing in government – he has finally run out of road.  
Holed up in Chequers, there would have been heartfelt conversations with close aides and of course his loving wife Victoria.
But there is a time when you simply make contact with cold political gravity and the arithmetic of the situation. 
Starmer has lost Labour MPs and he is increasingly losing his Cabinet. In such circumstances, limping on only leads to the same dead end. 
Yet most importantly he has lost the country. The polls, personal ratings, and local election results speak for themselves.
The question now is whether Starmer is turfed out swiftly or gets a three-month swan song to attempt to define a legacy. 
Clearly he would be a lame duck should there be a protracted transition. Would he have to run every decision past Andy Burnham?
It is why some are pushing for a quick coronation so Burnham can just get stuck in immediately. 
There is of course a risk that a leadership contest becomes a whacky races of candidates appealing to the expensive whims of lefty Labour members.
But one lesson of the Starmer premiership is surely that politicians who launch into No10 without a proper plan exposed to scrutiny are doomed to fail.
Or have we all just forgotten about the disastrous decision over winter fuel and raising national insurance? 
When the obituaries of the Starmer premiership are written, they will say he was a decent man with no plan.
Which should be a warning to wannabe successors. 

Despite commanding support among many Labour MPs, Mr Burnham’s march on Downing Street has sparked civil war in the party.

Loyalist MP John Slinger said colleagues pushing to replace Sir Keir without an election are demonstrating an “absolute farce”.

Former civil service boss Lord Simon Case warned that the leadership uncertainty was costing Britain money by pushing up borrowing costs. 

He said: “The amount of money we are paying for the enormous level of debt that the country has are going up with every moment of uncertainty.”

He said that “while politicians are having conversations amongst themselves about who should be leader”, time was lost to fix “issues of real significance to people up and down the country in the health service and education”.

Runners and riders to replace Starmer

ANDY BURNHAM 
The runaway favourite.
The Greater Manchester Mayor spent years waiting for the right moment to return to Westminster. After Labour’s local election disaster and the collapse of Wes Streeting’s challenge, many MPs conclude he is the only figure with the stature to unite the party.
Burnham’s pitch is simple: Labour has lost touch with working-class voters and needs a fresh start before the next election if it wants to beat Reform. 
YVETTE COOPER
The safe pair of hands.
The Foreign Secretary is weighing up a bid and is not directly denying she wants to stand.
She stood for leader back in 2015 and has been a senior politician for three decades.
Many Labour MPs want to have their first female Prime Minister.
AL CARNS
The dark horse. 
The former Royal Marines colonel is well liked among Labour MPs. His resignation alongside John Healey transformed him from junior minister to potential leadership contender overnight.
Supporters see him as patriotic, serious and untainted by years of Westminster infighting.
His biggest problem is a lack of experience and he might struggle to get the 81 signatures over the line. 
WES STREETING
The Cabinet rebel. 
The former Health Secretary fired the opening shot in Labour’s civil war when he resigned last month, demanding a “battle of ideas” and a full leadership contest.
But while his departure exposed the scale of the unrest engulfing the Government, it also raised a more awkward question: where were the numbers?
Mr Streeting is also popular with large parts of the country but less so with Labour members. 
His biggest obstacle would be convincing a left-wing membership that he – an unashamed Blairite – would speak for them in No10.
ANGELA RAYNER
The one-time heir to Labour’s left.
After she resolved her tax affairs with HMRC, many in Westminster expected Ms Rayner to launch a leadership challenge. Some of her allies urged her to seize the moment, arguing she remained one of Labour’s best-known figures and had a strong base among members and trade unions.
Others in her camp were far more cautious, warning entering the race could damage her standing. In the end, Rayner stayed on the sidelines and backed Burnham’s return to Parliament. 
But if he begins moving the party in a direction she fundamentally disagrees with, the former Deputy Prime Minister could yet be tempted to throw her hat into the ring herself.

It comes 23 months after Starmer led Labour to victory in the general election Credit: AFP