Two years ago Keir Starmer stormed to victory in the General Election, entering Downing Street with a massive 174-seat majority and a promise that “change begins now”.
But the optimism and hope evaporated quickly for many and Britain is now saying bye bye to its sixth Prime Minister in a decade after Starmer’s resignation speech this morning.
Here we take a look at some of the Labour leader’s biggest gaffes, high profile U-turns and rows during his turbulent spell in charge of the nation….
Free clothes
It was not the best start as it emerged in 2024 that Sir Keir was enjoying a whole new wardrobe in his new role.
The donations, first reported by the Guardian, were initially declared as money for his private office as leader of the opposition – but it soon turned out that it was a whopping £16,000 of new clobber.
The gifts – of £10,000 in October 2023 and £6,000 in February 2024 – were declared on time, but after the furore were re-categorised as donations in kind of clothing.
Sir Keir insisted at the time he had always followed the rules but the prime minister, along with his deputy at the time Angela Rayner and Chancellor Rachel Reeves, did say soon after they would no longer accept donations of clothing.
Not reading his speeches
Keir delivered a speech on immigration in 2024 in which he warned that Britain risked becoming an “island of strangers”.
The phrase left some campaign groups fuming and he was forced to deny he was trying to win back Reform voters.
Keir brushed off claims that his words were similar to those used in Enoch Powell’s “Rivers of Blood” speech – but a week later he admitted it had been a mistake that he regretted, adding that he had not read his speech properly before delivering it.
Time differences
During a Prime Minister’s Questions session, which started at midday, Starmer told the whole House of Commons that he could “go on all morning” about Labour’s achievements while in power – accidentally mixing up the timing of his own speech and apparently not knowing what the time was.
Sausages
One of the embattled PM’s most famous gaffes came along with an unfortunate slip of the tongue, which everyone noticed. Starmer was in full flow during his party conference speech when he called for the return of “sausages” from war ravaged Gaza.
The PM was hailing his own party for their efforts when he called for peace in the Middle East and the return of Israeli hostages taken during Hamas’s attack on 7 October last year. But it didn’t go exactly to plan.
He said: “I call again for restraint and de-escalation at the border between Lebanon and Israel. I call again for all parties to step back from the brink. I call again for all parties to step back from the brink.”
It was all going well until he said the wrong word in the next breath calling for a BBQ meat’s safety, by accident.
He said: “I call again for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the return of the sausages – the hostages – and a recommitment to the two-state solution: recognised Palestinian state alongside a safe and secure Israel.”
Handshake hell
There’s been plenty of awkward moments with these, such as the handshakes with Donald Trump that felt like they went on forever.
But none were more awkward than when he suffered a case of mistaken identity – shaking hands with the South Korean translator instead of the President himself in an embarrassing mix up.
U-turns
If there’s one thing Keir Starmer has mastered in office, it’s changing his mind.
The PM has been pushed by backbenchers, political opponents and pressure groups toward a flurry of U-turns since entering Downing Street just 18 months ago.
One of the biggest was ID cards. The PM announced last year that a mandatory digital ID scheme for people to prove they have the right to work in Britain was being planned. Less than four months later, the compulsory digital ID check was suddenly changed to ‘optional.’
Starmer also did a humiliating reversal after announcing possibly the most toxic policy of his premiership – axing winter fuel payments for 10million pensioners.
And early last year, the PM rejected calls for a national inquiry into grooming gangs, insisting the 2022 Jay Report was sufficient. But as fury ramped up, he once again changed his mind while heading to the G7 summit.
Hands off our boozers
One thing you cannot mess with in Britain, is our beer. And Keir soon found this out the hard way.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves used her budget last year to slash a pandemic-era discount on business rates — taxes levied on firms — from 75 percent to 40 percent, but this would leave our boozers in a sorry state.
Landlords and owners were up in arms, accusing the Labour government of piling more the pressure on an already struggling sector.
Many Labour MPs were barred from Brit boozers in protest and in January this year, Keir’s government realised they had made a mistake. Instead, a £300 million lifeline for pubs, watering down some of the changes, was announced at the start of 2026.
The last straw for farmers
Part of Labour’s electoral success came from winning dozens of rural areas but this changed when Labour announced an attack on farmers.
Reeves’ first budget slapped an inheritance tax on farming estates worth more than £1 million from April 2026, with a view to closing loopholes used by wealthy individuals used to avoid coughing up to the exchequer.
The decision did not go down well. There were protests as farmers drove tractors around Westminster playing “Baby Shark” and campaigners, including TV farmer Jeremy Clarkson, joining the fight by highlighting that many are asset-rich but cash poor, so they can’t fund increased inheritance taxes without flogging off their estates altogether.
After hordes of rows, the government decided to up the threshold hike to £2.5 million just two days before Christmas, lowering the number of affected estates from 375 to 185.