Various British government ministers are putting pressure on the Prime Minister.Image: keystone
May 12, 2026, 08:24May 12, 2026, 10:24 am
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is under massive pressure after a night of emergency meetings. Interior Minister Shabana Mahmood and Foreign Minister Yvette Cooper are said to have advised the 63-year-old to present a timetable for his resignation. Before the crucial cabinet meeting in the morning, several British media outlets are expecting a farewell.
Morning headlines:
“The Sun”:
«Starmer is on the brink. Keir’s premiership is in free fall.”
“The Guardian”:
“Starmer has his back to the wall because cabinet ministers are urging him to resign.”
“The Telegraph”:
“Time to go, says the cabinet.”
“Sky News”:
“Keir Starmer is weighing up whether he can still save his term as Prime Minister.”
“The Times”:
«The cabinet is turning against Keir Starmer. The Prime Minister has been advised to provide a timetable for his departure.”
Crisis meeting in Downing Street
According to the media, the Prime Minister is said to have received parts of his cabinet in Downing Street that night, including Foreign Secretary Cooper and Defense Secretary John Healey. On Monday, the Prime Minister declared during a highly anticipated speech that he wanted to remain in office. While Starmer accepted responsibility for the disastrous local and regional election results, he said he wanted to prove it to the doubters.
“Keir Starmer is facing the biggest leadership crisis of his term as prime minister,” wrote the PA news agency this morning. A cabinet member told the Guardian in the evening that there are currently “different views on how things should proceed and what is in the best interests of the party and the country”.
More than 70 of the 400 Labor MPs, including many backbenchers, publicly withdrew their support for the ailing head of government over the course of Monday, according to Sky and the BBC. In addition, several parliamentary assistants to his ministers announced their resignation in the evening and also called on Starmer to vacate the field.
The ranks of Keir Starmer’s supporters are shrinking. (archive image)Image: EPA UK PARLIAMENT
On Monday evening, an employee of Health Minister Wes Streeting, Joe Morris, and an employee of the Environment Ministry, Tom Rutland, resigned. Shortly afterwards, Naushabah Khan from the Cabinet Office and Melanie Ward from Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy’s team followed. They all hold the position of Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS), a type of assistant post. The unpaid position is often the first government job for ambitious MPs.
Resignation? Leadership election? How could things continue?
Starmer’s Labor Party lost over 1,400 seats in local bodies in the local elections in England last Thursday. In the general election in Wales, a Labor stronghold for decades, the party slipped into third place behind the pro-independence party Plaid Cymru and Reform UK. Starmer survived the first calls for his resignation over the weekend. The first announcement that the Prime Minister would be forced into a leadership election within his party was also initially significantly toned down.
“I know that I have my doubters and I know that I have to prove them wrong – and I will,” Starmer said on Monday. He bears responsibility for the election debacle. “But I also have the responsibility to implement the change for which we were elected – and I will deliver it.”
Formally, Starmer could resign immediately – or specify a time in the near future, a deadline in which to resign from office. However, Starmer cannot be formally voted out of office as Prime Minister; a detour is necessary. Starmer could be voted out as party leader in a leadership election, then he would no longer be able to remain as prime minister. In order to apply for this election, 20 percent of Labor MPs in the House of Commons would have to come together – the way doesn’t seem far.
Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage is happy about the election victory. Image: keystone
What happens after the Prime Minister resigns?
The British are already used to the heads of government taking the reins in Downing Street. After the two conservative Tories politicians, Liz Truss (50) in October 2022 and Boris Johnson (61) in September 2022, Starmer would be the third British Prime Minister within five years to vacate his post early or have to vacate his post. His party would remain in government for the time being, and a successor would be chosen by a committee.
Starmer had put up a threat on Monday in the event that Labor was no longer in power. If his party doesn’t get it done, the country will go down “a very dark” path, he said – and warned in particular about the right-wing populists from Reform UK with Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage, who triumphed in Thursday’s elections. A large right-wing demonstration is scheduled to take place in London on Saturday.
“We can’t win by being a weaker version of Reform or the Greens,” he says. “We can only win by being a stronger version of Labor.” It’s about nothing less than “the soul of the nation,” says Starmer. (nil/sda/dpa)