Former Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, has brought the curtain down on an 11-year Westminster career – confirming he will step down as the Labour MP for Holborn and St Pancras just weeks after leaving Downing Street.

For a politician who went from human rights lawyer to Director of Public Prosecutions to Prime Minister in the space of a decade, it is the final act in one of the most turbulent chapters in recent Labour history.

Starmer told his local paper, the Camden New Journal, that after leaving No 10 at the end of July, he had used the summer to reflect on what came next and had decided it was the “right time” to hand over the constituency he has represented since 2015.

He said he intends to focus on international affairs – including defence, security, trade and technology – alongside his long-running campaign against violence against women and girls. 

His departure caps a dramatic fall for a leader who, less than two years ago, took Labour from one of its worst general election defeats to a landslide victory.

Starmer’s resignation as PM and Labour leader

Starmer resigned as Prime Minister and Labour leader on 20 July following growing frustration from within his own party over his leadership.

Pressure had been building on him for months in the wake of the Peter Mandelson affair, Labour’s poor results in the May elections across England, Wales and Scotland, and a succession of ministerial resignations.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting resigned in May, while Defence Secretary John Healey followed in June, citing concerns over the government’s defence spending plans.

The immediate political turning point came with Andy Burnham’s emphatic victory in the Makerfield by-election on 18 June. Burnham won 54.8 per cent of the vote and defeated Reform UK’s Robert Kenyon by 9,231 votes despite the Nigel Farage-led party making significant gains in the area.

In the days that followed, senior Cabinet figures including Yvette Cooper, Ed Miliband, Shabana Mahmood and Heidi Alexander were reported to have told him that he should stand down.

In his final speech outside Downing Street, Starmer said he had taken his decision in the national interest and reflected on his record in government, including taking Labour from its historic 2019 defeat to its 2024 landslide victory.

Burnham, the former Greater Manchester mayor, subsequently became Labour leader and Prime Minister at the end of July.

Former PM’s Commons exit to trigger by-election

Starmer’s Commons exit will trigger only the second by-election in the constituency since 1979 – a seat regarded as one of Labour’s safest. He took over from Frank Dobson, who had represented the area for 35 years, after winning a fiercely contested Labour selection contest ahead of the 2015 general election.

Starmer was selected in December 2014 after defeating four challengers. Among those who had contested the selection were then-Camden Council leader Sarah Hayward and campaigning lawyer Raj Chada.

Reflecting on that journey, Starmer pointed to free school meals, increased GP numbers, the rise in the minimum wage, the lifting of the two-child benefit cap and the Renters’ Rights Act as tangible gains for constituents during his time as both backbench MP and Prime Minister.

True to the precedent set by his predecessor Dobson, Starmer said he would not publicly back a favoured successor, insisting the local party had “many, many fantastic people” from whom to choose.

Among those paying tribute was Carolyn Harris, the Labour MP for Swansea East and one of Starmer’s political allies, who spoke warmly of their friendship following his final Prime Minister’s Questions.

She described Starmer as one of the strongest and most principled people she knew, praising his dedication to public service and saying that, while his departure as a colleague was deeply sad, she believed he would approach his next chapter with the same determination and integrity.

Her comments reflected the affection shown towards Starmer by some of his Labour colleagues despite the dramatic circumstances of his departure from Downing Street.

Steve Reed, another close ally and former housing secretary, tweeted: “Keir leaves an incredible legacy. Taking Labour into government by a landslide just five years after our worst ever election result. He leaves Parliament now with his head held high and the country in a better state than he found it. Thank you Keir and good luck for what comes next.”

At 63, Starmer leaves front-line British politics but not public life. His stated pivot towards international affairs suggests that a role on the world stage may beckon.

He has already been linked with the post of NATO secretary general when Mark Rutte’s term ends in 2028, although there is no suggestion that he has formally put himself forward for the position. His experience of working closely with European allies, the United States and NATO during his time as Prime Minister could make such a role a natural fit.

Whatever verdict history delivers on his two years in Downing Street, Starmer’s own account of his legacy – rebuilding Labour from its historic 2019 defeat to a landslide victory in 2024 – is one he is clearly determined to continue making, long after leaving the Commons.