The frontrunner to replace Sir Keir Starmer has been sworn in as a new MP just hours after the British prime minister announced his resignation while choking back tears.

Starmer spoke on the steps of 10 Downing Street on Monday (UK time), less than two years after winning a landslide victory for Labour at a time when the party appeared doomed.

The outgoing PM will remain in the role until a successor is chosen, with his replacement becoming Britain’s seventh leader in ‌10 years.

The frontrunner to take the top job, charismatic former mayor Andy Burnham, was sworn in as a new MP on Monday (UK time), paving the way for what is expected to be an orderly transfer of power.

Burnham, a 56-year-old career politician, entered parliament to cheers from Labour MPs, and the odd heckle from the opposition, including one person who shouted out: “He’s not the Messiah.”

During what was being called his “coronation”, Bunham pledged allegiance to the monarch to take his place as an MP, a necessary step to be able to become the new leader of Labour and the UK.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he considered Starmer a friend and was “thinking of him on what must be a very tough day”.

“Serving in public life is a tremendous privilege but politics can also be a harsh business,” Albanese said.

He said Starmer could be proud of the contribution he had made to Britain and the Labour Party.

The Labour government is the latest ‌to fall foul of ‌voter anger over politicians’ failure to deliver ⁠on their promises of change, 10 years after the vote to leave the European Union.

In an emotional speech, Starmer said he ‌had listened to his governing Labour Party and realised that he was no longer the man who should lead it into a general election due in 2029.

Starmer said he spent the weekend with his wife at his country residence considering his future.

“The question my party is asking now is whether I am best placed to lead us into the next general election,” Starmer said in his address.

“I have heard the answer from my parliamentary party to that question and I accept that answer with good grace,” he said.

After describing the achievements his government had secured in his two years of power, a man who was often criticised for being robotic became visibly emotional, his voice cracking when he thanked his family ⁠for their support.

“When I leave the biggest job in the country I will spend more time on the most important job, ‌being the best husband ​I can to my fantastic wife Vic who has been a rock by my side through good times and bad, and being the best dad I can to my beautiful children who are my pride and my joy.”

There was some sadness in the Labour ranks, with ​industry minister Chris McDonald saying his speech underlined the fact “he’s a really decent man”.

However, others said he had been treated the way he treated others as prime minister, being “royally done over”.

Despite hoping for a smooth handover, the change is not without risk.

Burnham has yet to flesh out a full policy agenda and opposition party Reform UK leader Nigel Farage called for an election.

“I’ve had enough of waiting around. Britain needs change — real change, not another washed-up has-been shoved into place by the uniparty,” Farage said.
with AP

The threat to Starmer, which had been building for months, increased sharply on Friday when Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor, decisively ‌won a parliamentary election ‌to return to Westminster, beating ⁠a candidate from Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party, which has led national opinion polls for more than a year.

That victory ​gave hope to Labour MPs that Burnham, a career politician known for his communication skills, could transform the fortunes of a party that has lost support under Starmer, whose popularity ratings have sunk to the lowest for any British leader.

Starmer thanked his colleagues for their support, his voice cracking with emotion as he also paid tribute to his wife and children.

The pound and British government bonds were steady in the immediate aftermath of Starmer’s announcement, which investors had widely expected.

Despite the attempt at a smooth handover, the change is not without risk.

Beyond saying that the country needs ​fundamental change and to bring down the cost of living, Burnham has yet to make clear his approach to foreign affairs, the economy and defence.

Like Starmer, he could find he has little room to manoeuvre, hemmed in by bond market investors opposed to any additional borrowing, and confronted by an angry electorate who believe the country is not working properly.

Britain already has the highest borrowing costs in the Group of Seven wealthy nations due to its high debt and interest payments, years of anaemic economic growth, its struggles to cut spending and the need to invest in areas such as defence.

Investors spoken to by Reuters were ⁠divided over whether Burnham, who said last September that Britain had to get “beyond this thing of being in hock ‌to the bond markets”, ​would respect the need to reassure markets.

He has since said he was misrepresented.

“In our view, a Burnham premiership would inherit a precarious fiscal situation with few tools to deliver meaningful change,” economists at ​Citibank said on ‌Friday.

Whoever replaces Starmer will become Britain’s seventh prime minister since the Brexit vote to leave the European Union, which took place 10 years ago this week.

That level of turnover – the highest in Britain in almost two centuries – underlines the struggle of maintaining the support of voters angry at successive failures to ​improve living standards, public services and tackle illegal immigration.

-with AAP