{"id":919897,"date":"2026-07-15T01:14:55","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T06:14:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/15\/keir-starmer-will-announce-as-early-as-monday-that-he-is-quitting-as-prime-minister-after-spending-weekend-locked-in-tense-talks-about-his-future-with-his-wife-victoria-at-chequers\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T01:14:55","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T06:14:55","slug":"keir-starmer-will-announce-as-early-as-monday-that-he-is-quitting-as-prime-minister-after-spending-weekend-locked-in-tense-talks-about-his-future-with-his-wife-victoria-at-chequers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/15\/keir-starmer-will-announce-as-early-as-monday-that-he-is-quitting-as-prime-minister-after-spending-weekend-locked-in-tense-talks-about-his-future-with-his-wife-victoria-at-chequers\/","title":{"rendered":"Keir Starmer &#8216;will announce as early as Monday that he is quitting as Prime Minister&#8217; after spending weekend locked in tense talks about his future with his wife Victoria at Chequers"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"js-article-text\">\n<ul>\n<li><strong>See more Daily Mail on Google &#8211; <a rel=\"nofollow noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=dailymail.com\">save us as a Preferred Source<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>By BRENDAN CARLIN and PADRAIC FLANAGAN <\/p>\n<p><span> <span>Published:<\/span> <time datetime=\"2026-06-21T00:42:35+0100\"> 19:42 EDT, 20 June 2026 <\/time> <\/span> | <span> <span>Updated:<\/span> <time datetime=\"2026-06-21T10:21:15+0100\"> 05:21 EDT, 21 June 2026 <\/time> <\/span> <\/p>\n<div itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p>Sir <a target=\"_self\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/news\/keir-starmer\/index.html\" id=\"mol-08995bf0-6cfd-11f1-b411-0544c113c04c\">Keir Starmer<\/a> will announce as early as Monday that he is quitting as Prime Minister in the wake of <a target=\"_self\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/news\/andy-burnham\/index.html\" id=\"mol-089f9d80-6cfd-11f1-b411-0544c113c04c\">Andy Burnham<\/a>&#8216;s decisive victory in the Makerfield by- election, it was claimed last night.<\/p>\n<p>The PM was said to have reached the conclusion that his position was no longer tenable after talking to Cabinet colleagues, No 10 advisers, union leaders and key <a target=\"_self\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/news\/labour\/index.html\" id=\"mol-08b48510-6cfd-11f1-b411-0544c113c04c\">Labour<\/a> donors.<\/p>\n<p>Sources insisted Sir Keir, who is this weekend discussing his future with his wife <a target=\"_self\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/news\/victoria-starmer\/index.html\" id=\"mol-08ab3640-6cfd-11f1-b411-0544c113c04c\">Victoria<\/a>\u00a0at their country retreat Chequers, had yet to make a final decision.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>However, senior Labour figures told The Observer that they believed a clear statement could come from the PM as early as tomorrow or later this week.<\/p>\n<p>Last night, <a target=\"_self\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/news\/downing-street\/index.html\" id=\"mol-0026a930-6cff-11f1-b411-0544c113c04c\">Downing Street<\/a> responded by insisting the position was unchanged from Friday when the PM vowed to fight on and said that he would not walk away from a challenge, which is now expected by Mr Burnham and also potentially from former Health Secretary <a target=\"_self\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/news\/wes-streeting\/index.html\" id=\"mol-ffdc59c0-6cfe-11f1-b411-0544c113c04c\">Wes Streeting<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Sir Keir said then: &#8216;If there is a contest, yes, I will run. I have said repeatedly I am not going to walk away from that.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>A Labour peer claimed the PM would not &#8216;walk away&#8217; from Downing Street and create a political vacuum. Instead, he would &#8216;arrange a slow march as a matter of duty and dignity&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>Andy Burnham, who trounced Reform UK at last week&#8217;s by-election in the Greater Manchester seat, will be sworn in as an MP tomorrow.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Senior Labour figures told The Observer that they believed a clear statement could come from the PM as early as Monday\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Sir Keir is discussing his future this weekend with his wife Victoria at the Prime Minister&#8217;s country retreat Chequers<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Sir Keir is under pressure to make his intentions clear before Tuesday&#8217;s Cabinet meeting. Another Labour grandee said: &#8216;He&#8217;s come up hard against the reality that the support isn&#8217;t there.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;The truth is everyone knows this is no longer a tenable proposition. There&#8217;s a sadness about it all but sometimes there&#8217;s just an inevitability in politics.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>A Cabinet minister said Sir Keir was &#8216;calmly going through things&#8217; after a series of conversations with his closest allies over recent days.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;He just wants to do what&#8217;s right for the country and, having spoken to the people he wants, he is now spending quality time with his most important adviser &#8211; Vic.&#8217; Another ally said Lady Starmer now carried more weight than any of his legion of close advisers and she was one of the only people he now listened to.<\/p>\n<p>Up to recently, said the Starmer loyalist, she had been firmly of the view that the PM should stick it out and defy his critics. He said: &#8216;Vic has been of the view that &#8216;you need to keep on going&#8217;.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Another insider made clear that her influence over her husband was paramount. &#8216;Quite simply, she is his rock,&#8217; he said.<\/p>\n<p>It was apparently Lady Starmer who stopped Sir Keir from <a target=\"_self\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/news\/article-9568115\/Keir-Starmers-aide-gossiped-Angela-Rayner-quits-suddenly-Labour-crisis-deepens.html\">throwing in the towel after Labour&#8217;s calamitous results in May&#8217;s local elections<\/a> when some Cabinet colleagues told him the game was up.<\/p>\n<p>But then as one No 10 source said: &#8216;Vic is very important in talking stuff through with Keir.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s despite Downing Street previously insisting that Lady Starmer has no say in the machinery of government. And she has maintained a low profile in Downing Street &#8211; especially shortly after the 2024 general election, when she drew fierce criticism (as did her husband) over party donors paying for her outfits.<\/p>\n<p>The couple have also strongly defended their family&#8217;s privacy, particularly when it has involved their son and daughter who are now 18 and 15.<\/p>\n<p>No 10 has previously insisted that Lady Starmer, who works as an occupational therapist in the NHS, was not involved with the Government&#8217;s political affairs. But insiders are suggesting that this situation has understandably changed and she is now playing a highly political role.<\/p>\n<p>According to one source, this is the inevitable outcome of Sir Keir&#8217;s operation inside No 10 being &#8216;hollowed out&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>Lady Starmer is often by the PM&#8217;s side on the big state occasions. Last week, she flew to the G7 world leaders summit in Evian, France, alongside Sir Keir.<\/p>\n<p>Last night a Tory source said: &#8216;The only one Sir Keir has left in his corner is his wife. If she had any sense she&#8217;d put him out of his misery and tell him to pack it in.&#8217;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>            <ad-slot position=\"smart_feed\"><\/ad-slot><\/p>\n<p>            <ad-slot position=\"after_article\"><\/ad-slot><\/p><\/div>\n<p> Camellia Mongold<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/news\/article-15916563\/Keir-Starmer-spends-weekend-locked-tense-talks-future-wife-Victoria-Chequers.html?ns_mchannel=rss&#038;ito=1490&#038;ns_campaign=1490\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>See more Daily Mail on Google &#8211; save us as a Preferred Source By BRENDAN CARLIN and PADRAIC FLANAGAN Published: 19:42 EDT, 20 June 2026 | Updated: 05:21 EDT, 21 June 2026 Sir Keir Starmer will announce as early as Monday that he is quitting as Prime Minister in the wake of Andy Burnham&#8217;s decisive<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":919898,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23540,113854],"tags":[113853,5307],"class_list":["post-919897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-will","category-starmer","tag-starmer","tag-will"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=919897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919897\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/919898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=919897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=919897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=919897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}