Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Politics
Nicholas Cecil

How Keir Starmer plunged in 674 days from 2024 election triumph to fighting for his political life

Sir Keir Starmer’s fall from general election victory to the brink of being ousted as Prime Minister has happened at extraordinary speed.

He took Labour to a landslide victory in July 2024, with more than 400 MPs from his party elected to Parliament.

Just 674 days later he faced the start of moves to force him out of Downing Street.

Here is how his premiership has unfolded:

* July 5: Sir Keir becomes Prime Minister after voters turn their back on the Tories.

* July 29: Chancellor Rachel Reeves announces plans to means-test the winter fuel payment.

Sir Keir Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves raised taxes by £40 billion in Labour‘s first Budget (PA Wire)

* August-September: A row erupts over Sir Keir and other Cabinet ministers accepting gifts from wealthy donors.

* October: Downing Street chief-of-staff Sue Gray quits after infighting in No10.

* October 30: In her first Budget, Ms Reeves announces £40 billion of tax rises, partly to fund better public services.

* December: Lord Mandelson is appointed by Sir Keir as British ambassador to the US.

2025

* January: Donald Trump becomes US president amid claims Sir Keir’s government will struggle to form strong ties with the Republican administration.

* May 1: Local elections in England see Labour lose 187 seats, Nigel Farage’s Reform UK gain 677, with the Tories losing 674. Labour loses the Runcorn and Helsby by-election to Reform.

* May 12: Sir Keir delivers a speech on immigration and says the UK risks becoming an “island of strangers”, a phrase that he later regrets after it drew comparisons to the language of Enoch Powell.

* May 21: Sir Keir announces a partial U-turn on winter fuel payments.

Sir Keir Starmer and Donald Trump struck a US-UK trade deal but fell out over the Iran war (PA Archive)

* June 16: The PM and Trump announce a trade deal between the UK and US.

* July 1: Sir Keir suffers the biggest revolt of his premiership so far as 49 Labour MPs vote against his welfare reforms.

* September: Sir Keir sacks Lord Mandelson as ambassador to US over his links to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

* November 26: Ms Reeves delivers her second Budget, raising billions more in taxes and scrapping the two-child benefit cap.

2026

* February 8: The PM’s chief-of-staff Morgan McSweeney quits in the wake of the Lord Mandelson row.

* February 9: Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar calls on the Prime Minister to quit, saying that the “leadership in Downing Street needs to change”.

* February 23: Lord Mandelson is arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office.

Sir Keir Starmer appointed Lord Mandelson British ambassador to the US (PA Wire)

* February 27: The Green Party wins the Gorton and Denton by-election, with Labour third behind Reform.

* February 28: Trump launches his Iran war, with Sir Keir refusing to allow US planes to use UK bases for offensive airstrikes.

* March 3: The US president attacks the PM, saying he is “not Winston Churchill” but Sir Keir refuses to bow to Trump pressure for the UK to be dragged into the Middle East conflict.

* April 16: Sir Keir is accused of misleading the Commons in a row over Lord Mandelson’s security vetting. He denies the claim.

* May 7: Labour suffers huge losses in the local elections, including in London, with Sir Keir saying he takes responsibility for the “tough” results.

Wes Streeting quit as Health Secretary amid moves to force a leadership contest against Sir Keir Starmer (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

* May 9: London MP Catherine West declares her intention to launch a ‘stalking horse’ leadership bid if the Cabinet does not move against Sir Keir.

* May 11: Sir Keir gives keynote speech to silence his critics but it fails to quell the Labour revolt.

* May 12: Faith minister Miatta Fahnbulleh, MP for Peckham, becomes the first of four ministers to resign.

* May 13: The number of Labour MPs calling on Sir Keir to go rises to around 90 but more than 100 signed a letter backing him.

* May 14: Wes Streeting quits as Health Secretary as the PM fights to stay in No10. Leadership rival Andy Burnham announces he will bid to stand again in Parliament.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.