As Starmer quits, collapse of U.K.’s mainstay parties mirrors global trend

1 week ago 20

Democracy Dies in Darkness

Across the West’s advanced democracies, conventional political parties are being gutted by stagnant wages and fraying social contracts that have left voters fed up with the status quo.

June 23, 2026 at 8:39 a.m. EDT2 minutes ago

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer announces his resignation to the media outside 10 Downing Street in London on Monday. (Kin Cheung/AP)

LONDON — Announcing his resignation on Monday, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer appeared in a uniquely British tableau: the small lectern, the glossy black door, the brass “No. 10” gleaming over his shoulder. Starmer was the sixth occupant of Downing Street to quit under pressure in the last decade.