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U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer could announce his departure from Downing Street as early as next week, some ministers believe, as he faces intense pressure to set out a timetable for his exit following Andy Burnham's by-election win, the Financial Times (FT) reported.
Number 10 insisted Sunday morning that Starmer would fight for his job, but a series of cabinet colleagues and his chief whip have warned him that support is draining away.
One minister close to Starmer predicted the prime minister would leave in an orderly way: "I think there will be a peaceful agreement, although nothing is done and dusted until it is."
Several cabinet members told the Financial Times they would tell Starmer over the weekend to set an orderly timetable for a transition or risk a full-scale revolt at Tuesday's cabinet meeting.
"If he hasn't said he is going by then, let's see who turns up," one minister said.
Heidi Alexander, the transport secretary, was the first cabinet member to tell Starmer to quit, doing so on Friday. Starmer's chief whip, Jonathan Reynolds, told the prime minister there were increasing demands by Labour MPs for an orderly transition of power to a new leader, according to officials briefed on Starmer's talks with colleagues.
Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary and an ally of Burnham, had told Downing Street "weeks ago" that if Burnham won in Makerfield, the prime minister would lose control of the Parliamentary Labour Party, according to a person familiar with those conversations.
"The people around him seem to have come to terms with it," said one senior member of Burnham's team.
Peter Kyle, the business secretary and an arch-loyalist, declined Sunday to say whether Starmer would continue in office, telling Sky News he would not comment on his "frank" conversation with the prime minister on Friday.
Kyle said Starmer was "trying to create the space where he can think and reflect on the political realities and challenges and opportunities that lie before us," adding that the prime minister was considering "what putting country first means at a moment like this."
"I'm not going to engage in what the days ahead look like," Kyle said.
Speaking to Sky News separately, Kyle said of reports that Starmer would soon set a departure timetable: "I have nothing to believe that they are true," declining to engage in the "speculation, which I know is out there," surrounding the Labour leadership.
He said he had not spoken to Starmer since their "very detailed" conversation on Friday, which he described as "personal" and "private."
He also said he had sent Burnham a congratulatory text message but had not heard back.
Speaking later to the BBC, Kyle said Burnham is one of many people in Labour with "the qualifications, the temperament, and the qualities to become prime minister" and indicated he would accept a role in a Burnham cabinet if offered the chance.
"I've thrown my heart and soul into re-industrializing our economy, getting growth into the economy, and supporting those high-growth sectors of our economy. I am loving this job," he said.
"If I ever have the chance to serve a Labour government doing this sort of thing, then, of course, I would grab it with both hands, because it is a privilege of a lifetime, and it is changing lives and creating jobs around our country," he added.
Britain's Observer newspaper reported that Starmer was expected to resign on Monday, June 22, and set out a timetable for his departure, though a government source told Reuters that Starmer remained focused on governing.
The Observer report, citing unnamed senior Labour figures, said Starmer was discussing the matter with his wife at his Chequers country residence before making a final decision and that a clear statement on his future could come as soon as Monday.
The Observer said Starmer had concluded his position was no longer tenable after speaking with cabinet ministers, advisers, donors and trade union leaders.
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Starmer insisted Friday he would fight any leadership challenge and told colleagues he would be "in it to win it," urging Labour not to tear itself apart with infighting.
He spent the weekend talking to ministerial colleagues, friends and family about whether to fight on, with the advice of loyal ministers such as Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden and Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson considered particularly influential.
Allies said Starmer was gearing up for a fight, including lining up office space, a website and funding to contest a leadership race.
"We're doing planning on what the first two weeks of the campaign would look like," one colleague of the prime minister who spoke to FT said.
One normally loyal minister described Starmer's protestations of defiance as playing for time in the slim hope that Burnham's momentum would falter.
More than 100 Labour MPs, roughly a quarter of the parliamentary party, have publicly called for Starmer to resign, according to a Reuters tally. There are 403 Labour MPs in total, but 163 hold government jobs and would have to resign those posts to publicly call for Starmer's departure.
Many on this "payroll vote" privately want him to quit, according to the Financial Times.
Labour grandee Lord Charlie Falconer told the BBC on Saturday: "We have to move as quickly as possible to resolve the position, which is completely unmaintainable for the country; we have a prime minister who's got absolutely no authority."
Former Home Secretary Alan Johnson said his message to the prime minister would be: "It's over, Keir."
Labour MP Jess Phillips told the BBC on Sunday, "It feels like we've come to the end of the road," adding that allowing Starmer's departure to be "as dignified as possible and allowing it to be in Keir Starmer's gift a little bit does seem like the very best solution, rather than next week just being an enormous bun fight of everybody having a big row."
Another Labour MP, Toby Perkins, told the BBC that Starmer "deserves a bit of time," adding, "I don't believe that this is a government that's manifestly failing."
The threat to Starmer's position increased sharply on Friday when Burnham won a parliamentary seat in a by-election for Makerfield, in northern England, clearing the way for him to launch a formal leadership challenge.
Burnham, 56, currently holds the highest favorability ratings of any senior UK politician and has made clear he intends to challenge Starmer for the premiership.
He is due to be sworn in as a member of Parliament next week, at which point he will automatically lose his post as Greater Manchester mayor, triggering a by-election in Manchester that will be a Labour priority to retain.
A clear majority of Starmer's Cabinet believes it is inevitable that Burnham will replace him, according to people familiar with the thinking of more than 15 Cabinet members who spoke to Bloomberg on Friday.
Former Health Secretary Wes Streeting has also said he would stand in any leadership contest. Burnham and Streeting, who are friends, are expected to hold talks in the coming days about what should happen next; some allies of Streeting expect him to strike a deal with Burnham, dropping his own leadership bid in exchange for a senior Cabinet position, with some suggesting he could be offered the role of chancellor.
Starmer has urged both Burnham and Streeting not to launch a leadership contest.
Starmer led Labour to a landslide general election victory in 2024 but has become deeply unpopular following a series of scandals and policy reversals that have left many voters with the impression he cannot deliver the improvements to living standards he promised, according to Reuters.
If Starmer were to resign or be ousted, it would make him the seventh U.K. prime minister installed in just over a decade, the highest turnover in nearly two centuries, reflecting public anger at successive governments' failure to improve public services and address issues such as illegal immigration, Reuters reported.
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