Starmer now set to resign

It was no secret that Andy Burnham would seek to replace Keir Starmer should he win the Makerfield by-election. After he achieved victory, though — exceeding even the most optimistic polling — Starmer did not go gently into that good night. Instead, he said in no uncertain terms that he would fight Burnham in any leadership challenge.

At this moment in time, a leadership challenge would have proven to be very damaging for the Labour Party. Because this is Keir Starmer we’re talking about, though, it looks like Burnham doesn’t have to worry. Because true to form, Starmer has now U-turned on his initial threat to stand against Burnham:

Keir Starmer is preparing to set out a timetable for his departure from No 10 this week after Andy Burnham’s triumphant return to Westminster in the Makerfield byelection.

Read @RSylvester1's exclusive now: https://t.co/jDE4INemuC pic.twitter.com/kBqDuqlckW

— The Observer (@ObserverUK) June 20, 2026

One last U-turn for the road, eh?

And why not. Going back on his word is the only thing Starmer was ever any good at.

Starmer — End of daze

According to the Observer, Burnham has the backing of more than half the Parliamentary Labour Party. This means Starmer can no longer “command the confidence of the House of Commons”. And as the Observer also reported:

One Labour peer, who is close to the prime minister, insisted Starmer would not “walk away” from No 10 creating a vacuum but would “arrange a deliberate slow march in good order, as a matter of duty and dignity”. The friend said: “I think he sees the realities. Stopping ‘chaos’ (as he rightly put it) is now not possible by staying, so that only leaves one option. I think he has come to see it as the dutiful option to serve the country and the party.”

Honestly, we’re surprised things had to go this far for Starmer to see sense. Labour’s polling looks like this under him:

Now here’s what Burnham just achieved in Makerfield:

🚨 BREAKING: Andy Burnham has won the Makerfield by-election

🔴 LAB: 24,937 (+6,725) – 54.8%
➡️ REF: 15,696 (+2,893) – 34.5%
🟣 RES: 3,111 (NEW) – 6.8%
🔵 CON: 997 (-3,382) – 2.2%
🟢 GRN: 308 (-1,468) – 0.7%
🔶 LD: 163 (-2,572) – 0.4%

Changes w/ 2024
58.75% turnout

— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) June 19, 2026

As we’ve reported elsewhere, no one should have any confidence that Burnham will be able to maintain this lead. At the same time, people should have even less confidence that Starmer can reverse his fortunes. For Keir Rodney Starmer, things can only get not-better.

Who could have guessed?

On 20 June, Channel 4 News suggested that no one could have seen this coming given Starmer’s massive 2024 majority. The problem with this assertion is that many of us did see it coming. Take this from the day after the election, for example:

I know what you’re thinking. The biggest majority in a generation. A historic landslide, a singular mandate, zero organised opposition. How is it even possible for me to fuck this up?

Refill your popcorn. You’ll love this next part. pic.twitter.com/9zGD42mpLy

— Eyup Lovely (@eyuplovely) July 5, 2024

Starmer became the Labour leader on the back of his ’10 Pledges’ — a set of left-leaning policies that could have done this country a lot of good. The fact that Starmer abandoned these in favour of the wishy-washy sh*t from his 2024 Manifesto showed two things:

He had no plan to make things better.
He didn’t grasp that nothing short of radical change would allow him to maintain the support of the public.

Following years of austerity and the ongoing Cost-of-Living Crisis (a.k.a. the Cost-of-Greed Crisis), most Britons are now feeling the pinch. And unless Burnham can quickly convince people he’s got a plan to turn things around, he’s going to f*ck it all up as quickly as Starmer did.

Featured image via the Canary