UK’s Starmer warns successor he will have to stay on international stage

Britain’s outgoing prime minister Keir Starmer warned his probable successor Andy Burnham in an interview released Saturday that he cannot ignore international turmoil and just concentrate on the country’s domestic problems.

In his first interview since announcing his resignation on June 22, Starmer said his successor as leader of the ruling Labour party could not spend less time on turbulent international affairs.

So far, former Manchester mayor Burnham is the only candidate to take over the centre-left party. He could be in office by mid-July.

“Whoever’s my successor is going to face the same global conflict. We keep saying, and it’s true, we’re in a more dangerous and volatile world than we’ve been in for probably most of my lifetime. That’s not just a phrase, that’s reality,” Starmer told the BBC.

Burnham’s supporters have said he should put more focus on domestic issues, such as the cost of living, and Burnham said this week that decentralisation of government would be a priority.

But in a social media question-and-answer session Friday, he discussed international topics and said he would “100 percent” give the same support to Ukraine as Starmer.

Asked by the BBC, Starmer said his successor would not be able to spend less time on diplomacy.

“There’s often this discussion — what’s the right balance between dealing with international affairs and dealing with domestic affairs? They’re one and the same thing,” Starmer said.

“If you’re prime minister and you care what bills are going to be like in any household around the country, you have to care about finding a lasting solution to the situation in Ukraine, you have to care about what happens in the Strait of Hormuz.”

Starmer said he had “never had any personal animosity” towards Burnham and that he would “do everything I possibly can to make sure” that the next government succeeds.

Starmer, who led Labour to a spectacular win in the 2024 general election, has said he will remain in parliament at least until the next nationwide vote, but told the BBC he would be “keeping my mouth shut, rather than giving constant advice to my successor about what they should be doing”.

Starmer had vowed to fight any challenge to his leadership, but gave in to intense pressure from his party. “In the end it became an intensely personal decision,” he said, one taken with his wife and children at the British prime minister’s country retreat.

“We went to Chequers and just spent two days together as a family. And that’s when I came to my final decision,” he said.