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Chapter 1: What led to Keir Starmer's resignation as Prime Minister?
Well, it may not have been a surprise, given that we all expected it to happen and indeed predicted it on Friday's episode, but it somehow still came as something of a shock that Keir Starmer, who led the Labour Party to a landslide victory less than two years ago, is now heading for the exit door.
Chapter 2: Who is likely to succeed Keir Starmer as Prime Minister?
One decade since the Brexit referendum, 10th anniversary tomorrow, his successor, almost certainly Andy Burnham, will be our seventh prime minister in that time. The brutal nature of politics was never clearer as he stood outside Number 10, listed some of the many changes made to Britain, but accepted that his MPs no longer wanted him.
And so, fighting to hold back tears as he thanked his wife and their two teenage children, He said he would be gone by September and that he would go with good grace. This afternoon, by-election victor Andy Burnham will take his seat in Parliament. So what then? What are the challenges he has to meet to ensure he lasts longer than the growing list of recent predecessors?
Chapter 3: What challenges will Andy Burnham face as the new leader?
All that and more in today's special live episode of The Rest Is Politics. This episode is brought to you by Fuse Energy.
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Chapter 4: How has the political landscape changed in the UK since Brexit?
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Visit fuseenergy.com for full terms and conditions. So, Rory, your first reaction to, as I say, something that was both surprising and somehow shocking.
It was, of course, as I'm sure everybody will say in massive cliches, awful to see yet another prime minister emerge on the steps of Downing Street to resign.
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Chapter 5: What are the implications of Starmer's leadership on Labour's future?
I mean, I, you know, I was there. when David Cameron did it, when Theresa May did it, and then, of course, Boris Johnson did it, then Liz Truss did it after, you know, what if it was 47, 48 days, then Rishi Sunak did it.
So there's that, this sort of odd sense that Britain is becoming a country that's spitting through prime ministers that are Belgian or what used to be an Italian race, although the Italians now hang on. Second thing, I think many of us will feel a sense that, of gratitude towards Keir Starmer, a gratitude for the way he conducts it himself, gratitude for his dignity and thinks he did well.
But I also think gratitude above all for the fact that he saw the writing on the wall and didn't try to Joe Biden it and hang on to the last moment. But what did you feel? I mean, this must be very deep for you as somebody who's right in the heart of this whole story.
I feel a mix of things. And of course, you know, I know Keir very well. Fiona and I know Vic, his wife and their kids. And I did feel that sense of sort of brutality. And I think, you know, it's hard not to feel there is something a little bit unfair about
I mean, you know, for example, if you look at a lot of the stuff on social media yesterday, it was basically saying, can't wait to see the back of him, worst prime minister we've ever had.
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Chapter 6: How can Andy Burnham unify the Labour Party after Starmer?
I think that's a very, very hard claim to make when you look at some of the ones that you just mentioned, Liz Truss probably and Boris Johnson. most of all. But the other thing that was happening yesterday is people were pumping out on social media long, long lists, including stuff that I'd forgotten about, of the things that the government has done.
But the reason why it's particularly brutal, I think, is that ultimately... There's something about Keir Starmer that the MPs have concluded the public are never going to like. Now, what they can't work out, and I think Andy Burnham is almost certainly going to be the next prime minister. I think he's got a lot of qualities. I think he's got a lot of strengths.
Chapter 7: What strategies should Burnham adopt to address economic growth?
But he's going to meet all the same challenges. And indeed, they're all going to transfer almost immediately to him. You can already see it in the media, the way that they're starting to turn on him a bit. The social media stuff is starting. And by the way, the other thing I felt...
particularly as Steve Bray, the blue-hatted anti-Brexit campaigner, the first half of Keir Starmer's speech was drowned out almost by ode to joy wafting up from Whitehall. And thankfully, it calmed down so that the most important part of the speech, in a way, was given with a bit of dignity.
But I don't think it's a coincidence that we're coming to the 10th anniversary of the Brexit referendum because I do think it's – that is the point at which I think our politics became virtually unmanageable. And what we've had in the last decade is a succession of prime ministers trying to make sense of a politics that isn't really making sense.
And I think Andy Burnham, if he does come in, he's really got to seize –
Chapter 8: How will international relations impact Burnham's leadership?
a sense of boldness, doing big things, including things that aren't necessarily expected. I think the devolution agenda he's made for that, we're going to have much, much more of that. He's going to have to confront the Labour Party with the choices that Keir Starmer failed to persuade them to back, not least in relation to welfare spending at a time that we need so much more for
for national security. But I felt a mixture of sadness for him, sadness for his wife and their closest friends, but also a sense of realpolitik. Once the Labour Party decides and then moves as it did on the back of that election result on Friday, where everybody you spoke to was saying, it's got to be Andy, it's got to be Andy, Keir's got to go, Keir's got to go.
Once that happens, the realpolitik does take over. But, you know, I find it hard, as you say, I've been there when prime ministers have come and prime ministers have gone, and it's always a very, very sad thing. But ultimately, I think he will get a lot of kudos for the fact that he said yet again, I make this judgment based on the interest of the country.
And, you know, you recognize that that's, in a way, what he's done. He's basically said, once you lose, with the majority that he's got, 170 or whatever it is, 411 Labour MPs, if you've lost that support, you can't carry on. Yeah.
Yeah. And I think that's right. And I think the Labour MPs were also right, that once they had concluded that he wasn't going to be able to lead them into the next election, Everything just followed from that. There's no point keeping him along until the last moment if everything suggests that he couldn't win the next election. You might as well take the risk, bring in someone else.
I think, presumably, he will now become, quite quickly, go from being a sort of national figure of ridicule to becoming a national treasure. You can see this quite quickly with Gordon Brown, John Major, Theresa May, to some extent, Rishi Sunak. I mean, there will be a long, long 20, 30 years where everybody says, oh, he was really decent, great guy, and what a pity he stepped down.
Well, it kind of depends what happens next, doesn't it? I mean, I thought he got the tone right today and that's important. But then, you know, there's still an awful lot of stuff flying around. I don't think the relations between the two of them are good enough. And I think Keir's probably too proud.
But this idea that actually Andy Burden might say, look, your big strength seems to be foreign policy, foreign affairs. I don't have much experience in that. What do you think about staying as foreign secretary? I suspect that won't happen. So it then depends on whether he decides to stay in parliament, whether he decides to go back to the law, whatever it might be.
But the thing about prime ministers, if you've been a significant prime minister, and bear in mind, he's one of a very, very small number of people who've won elections as Labour leader. you're talking Attlee, Wilson, Blair, and I'm missing one. You're talking a very, I might not be missing one, you're talking a very, very small number of people.
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