{"id":1008,"date":"2026-06-22T09:09:55","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T09:09:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/topmovingpross.com\/?p=1008"},"modified":"2026-06-22T09:09:55","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T09:09:55","slug":"keir-starmer-went-from-election-landslide-to-downfall-after-his-supporters-deserted-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/topmovingpross.com\/?p=1008","title":{"rendered":"Keir Starmer went from election landslide to downfall after his supporters deserted him"},"content":{"rendered":"
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LONDON (AP) \u2014 Dutiful rather than dynamic, Keir Starmer<\/span> was elected<\/span> Britain\u2019s prime minister to be a safe pair of hands who would end years of political chaos under the Conservatives.<\/p>\n

Read more France braces for a week of punishing heat as red alerts spread<\/a><\/p>\n

His term is ending less than two years later after missteps, party infighting and one colossal error of judgment that indirectly ensnared him in the scandals surrounding Jeffrey Epstein, a man he had never met and whose sexual crimes he was not complicit in.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Starmer said in an emotional statement that he is stepping down as leader of the governing Labour Party, though he will remain caretaker primer minister until a new Labour leader is chosen in coming weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe question my party is asking now is whether I am best placed to lead us into the next general election,\u201d he said. \u201cI have heard the answer of my parliamentary party to that question, and I accept that answer with good grace.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Starmer\u2019s selling point was \u201cno more soap opera politics,\u201d said Rob Ford, a political science professor at the University of Manchester. Instead, Ford said, his government was \u201cthe antithesis of what he said he was going to be about, and it\u2019s very hard to survive that.\u201d<\/p>\n

A trouncing for Starmer\u2019s Labour Party in a midterm set of local and regional elections on May 7 proved the final straw. It triggered a series of government resignations and challenges that look set to sweep former Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham into 10 Downing Street.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s a precipitous downfall from July 4, 2024, when Starmer brought the center-left Labour Party back to power after 14 years, winning 411 of the 650 seats in the House of Commons.<\/p>\n

Standing outside 10 Downing St. the next day, Starmer pledged to restore \u201crespect to politics\u201d and lead a government of \u201cpublic service.\u201d After the chaos of the last years of Conservative rule,<\/span> which saw a constant churn of scandal and the toppling of prime ministers Boris Johnson and Liz Truss in quick succession, Starmer promised to lower the temperature and make politics a little bit more boring.<\/p>\n

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Some of the problems that felled him were baked into his victory, which was built on a wide but shallow base of support. Despite Labour\u2019s huge majority in Parliament, it was backed by only 34% of voters \u2014 and many of those appeared motivated by anger at the Conservatives rather than enthusiasm for Labour.<\/p>\n

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