Keir Starmer to step down as Labour MP after resigning as PM in July
Keir Starmer is to step down as a Labour MP after resigning as Prime Minister earlier this summer to focus on international affairs and tackling violence against women and girls
Keir Starmer is to step down as a Labour MP after resigning as Prime Minister earlier this summer(Image: Dinendra Haria/SOPA Images/Shutterstock)
Keir Starmer is to step down as a Labour MP after resigning as Prime Minister earlier this summer.
The move is expected to trigger a by-election to replace him as MP for Holborn and St Pancras. The timetable for choosing candidates will be set out in the coming weeks.
Mr Starmer announced he was standing down from Parliament in an interview with local paper, the Camden New Journal. He said that after leaving No10 at the end of July, he had reflected on the future and that he was ready to “pass the baton to a successor”.
His announcement came hours before Andy Burnham was due to make his first appearance as PM in the House of Commons. The former Greater Manchester mayor became Labour leader after no viable challenger emerged, paving his way to replace Mr Starmer in Downing Street in July.
Mr Starmer – who became an MP after an esteemed career as a barrister – said he plans to focus on international affairs and tackling violence against women and girls in his days after Parliament.
The ex-PM – who served as director of public prosecutions from 2008 to 2013 – told the New Journal: “It has been a huge honour and privilege to represent the best constituency in the country and to have taken over from Frank Dobson, who was such a great constituency MP and a member of the last Labour government. I will now focus on other things and that will be international affairs including defence, security, trade and technology in a fast-changing world.
“I will also continue, as I have done for a long time now with others, work on combating violence against women and girls; that is an issue that matters to me hugely. It’s work I started before I became an MP and it’s work I’m keen to continue after I’m an MP.
“So international affairs on the one hand, and continuing my work on violence against women and girls on the other.”
Labour constituency party staff in the area have been told of his decision to leave Parliament. Mr Starmer would have represented the constituency for eleven years.
