Keir Starmer says Labour can win the next general election under his successor after turning the party’s fortunes around in his six-year stint as leader.
The Prime Minister said he was “proud” of what he achieved in office and said he hands over a party in “good shape” as he prepares to bow out of Downing Street on Monday after just two years. He will be replaced as Labour leader by Andy Burnham on Friday, and will quit No10 on Monday after handing his resignation to the King.
In his final newspaper interview as PM, he told The Mirror that he believed Labour would be able to win a second term in office under Mr Burnham, as his own time in office was cut short.
He said: “I will go with good grace. I want my country to thrive, and therefore I’ll do everything to make sure there’s an orderly transition and give my full support to Andy Burnham and the whole of the government. I want the government to succeed, I want the country to succeed. And therefore my last acts as Prime Minister will be doing what I can to do that.
“There is now I think a sound footing, a sound foundation, and the party can go on and win a second term, which is what I always thought we could do. We’ve built the platform to go on and win in 2029. We hand over the country and the party in good shape after six and a half years from a state where the party, as I say, it was a question of whether it would exist.
“So I will now support the government and do everything I can to make sure that we go forward in good shape.”
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