Badenoch Blasts Starmer After Resignation
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has delivered a withering verdict on Keir Starmer’s premiership, branding him “a terrible Prime Minister” within hours of his resignation and pinning Britain’s troubles on Labour’s wider policy direction rather than the outgoing leader alone.
In a statement posted on her official X account shortly after Starmer announced his resignation on Monday, Badenoch criticised several decisions taken under his administration, including tax increases, welfare policies, defence spending, energy strategy and key political appointments.
“Hiking national insurance. The Family Farm Tax. Giving up on real welfare reform. Not funding our defence. Not drilling our own oil and gas. Appointing Peter Mandelson, then lying about what had happened,” she wrote.
She argued that the rot ran deeper than one man. “Britain is not ungovernable. Keir Starmer is a terrible Prime Minister. But the problem isn’t just Starmer,” she said, adding that “Labour MPs only want higher taxes to hand out more benefits.” Calling for a change of course, she declared: “We need to get Britain working again. We need the Conservatives.”
Starmer announced earlier on Monday that he would resign, paving the way for the country’s seventh leader in a decade after facing an uprising within his centre-left Labour Party. Speaking outside 10 Downing Street, he said he had informed King Charles III of his decision but would stay on as caretaker until a successor emerges.
“The question my party is asking now is whether I am best placed to lead us into the next general election,” he said. “I have heard the answer of my parliamentary party to that question, and I accept that answer with good grace.” His voice reportedly cracked as he thanked his wife, Victoria.
The collapse has been swift and remarkable. Starmer’s fall in popularity stands in sharp contrast to Labour’s huge general election victory in July 2024, which swept the party to power for the first time since 2010.
Less than two years on, the mandate has unravelled. Many in his party had written asking him to step down following May’s local elections, which saw Labour lose more than 1,000 seats on local councils, results widely interpreted as a repudiation of his leadership.
The immediate trigger came last week. Andy Burnham, the former Mayor of Greater Manchester, secured a return to Westminster through the Makerfield by-election, clearing the path to challenge Starmer. Burnham has since confirmed he will stand in the leadership contest, while former Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who had been expected to challenge, instead announced he would back Burnham’s bid.
Nominations open on July 9, with a new prime minister expected to be in place by September.
Badenoch was not alone in her criticism, though her tone was the sharpest. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage renewed his demand for a general election, arguing that Labour could not simply replace one leader with another without seeking a fresh mandate from voters.
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey urged Starmer’s successor to “drop the caution and complacency,” while Green Party leader Zack Polanski said the country needed “a bold change of direction.”
The backdrop is a Labour government squeezed on both flanks. The party is losing liberal voters to a growing Green Party while facing pressure from Reform UK, Nigel Farage’s anti-immigration party, which has gained momentum in national polling.
Badenoch’s own Conservatives, reduced to a historic low in the 2024 general election, are also fighting to regain political ground. As she pressed on Monday, with no new premier due for weeks, her question to a leaderless government was blunt: “If you’re not running, what are we waiting for?”