By Andy Bruce, Andrew MacAskill and Elizabeth Piper
WIGAN, England, June 19 (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Friday he would not walk away from his job, vowing to fight any challenge from his leading party rival Andy Burnham and potentially ushering in a new bout of political instability.
Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor, won a decisive victory for Labour in an election for a parliamentary seat in northwest England, and has signalled that he will use it to enter any contest to replace Starmer.
The scale of his victory in Makerfield prompted more Labour lawmakers to say Starmer should consider stepping down to choreograph an orderly handover to Burnham.
But Starmer, who won a landslide election in 2024, said he was “not going to walk away”, reeling off a list of actions during his two years in power: closer ties to the European Union, stabilising the economy and reducing waiting times for the health service.
BURNHAM HITS NATIONAL THEMES IN SPEECH
“If there is a contest … then yes, I will run, I will stand, and I’ve said repeatedly I’m not going to walk away,” Starmer told reporters in London during a visit designed to indicate it was “business as usual” for him.
He again warned of the dangers of a potentially disruptive leadership campaign.
His resistance to growing Labour calls to set a timetable to step down, coupled with the scale of Burnham’s win in Makerfield, could threaten hopes of an orderly transition by putting divisions on public display in a leadership contest.
Burnham, a 56-year-old career politician, won the contest in Makerfield in northwest England with 54.8% of the vote, beating the candidate for the populist Reform UK, on 34.5%, and boosting his image as someone who could halt the rise of veteran Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage’s party.
Hours after claiming victory, he set out a national approach in what lawmakers described as a prime ministerial-style address.
“I did talk about the need to change Labour … and we’ve got to now take this moment and answer the challenges that have been laid down,” he told a crowd of supporters, listing areas that he said needed to be tackled: making life more affordable, reducing utility bills and driving reindustrialisation.
“It is our last chance to change but we are going to take it … and we are going to lay out a new path for Britain.”
His victory not only sent him back to parliament, from where he can mount a leadership challenge, but also boosted the hopes of some worried Labour lawmakers that they can win the next national election, due in 2029.
That is something some Labour lawmakers say Starmer, struggling with some of the worst popularity ratings of any British leader, cannot achieve.
BURNHAM BROADLY POPULAR AMONG LABOUR MEMBERS
Polls indicate Burnham would win a formal leadership contest, which is decided by party members, although some Labour lawmakers hope that process can be avoided.
That would mean Britain installing its seventh prime minister in just over a decade, the highest turnover in nearly two centuries – a reflection of voter anger at successive failures to improve living standards and public services and tackle illegal immigration.
Starmer, 63, has repeatedly vowed to fight on, despite scandals, policy U-turns and accusations of indecision, wanting to finish his five-year term by fulfilling his promise to solve some of Britain’s most pressing problems.
But about a quarter of his lawmakers have urged him to quit since Labour suffered heavy losses in local elections last month, and more were adding their names. Senior colleagues, including the defence and health ministers, have resigned.
Some Labour lawmakers said the party should give Starmer the weekend to think things over and consider stepping down. A Burnham ally, Labour lawmaker Louise Haigh, told the BBC she hoped “that Andy and the prime minister can speak over the coming days”.
“We want to avoid a leadership contest if possible, and we hope that we can agree a way forward,” she said.
Many Labour members of parliament fear losing their seats in the next election, due in 2029, to Farage’s party, which has led opinion polls for more than a year.
Another of Starmer’s rivals, former health minister Wes Streeting, said this week he would force a contest soon unless the prime minister announced when he would stand down. He said Burnham’s victory was proof that Labour needed to change.
Party rules require 20% of the parliamentary party, or 81 lawmakers, to announce they are backing a single candidate to trigger a leadership challenge.
(Reporting by Andy Bruce, Andrew MacAskill and Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Kevin Liffey)
By Andy Bruce, Andrew MacAskill and Elizabeth Piper | Reuters | © Copyright Thomson Reuters 2026.
