Sir Keir Starmer felt that confidence in him had been “shaken sufficiently” to justify his resignation, according to key ally Baroness Jenny Chapman.
The international development minister told GB News Political Editor Christopher Hope: “He’s strong. This is a difficult day, and I think you could see that, especially when he spoke about Vic and the kids, and I think even his harshest critics can empathise with that sense of really, it’s a big day, there are big emotions flying around.
“But I think what I heard from his words this morning were a real sense of duty, some pride in what’s been achieved. When you think, when he became Labour leader in early 2020 just after that catastrophic defeat, the Labour Party, everybody said we couldn’t turn around the party and win power in one term. He did that.
“We’ve achieved a lot in government. We’ve got small boat crossings down, immigration down, wages are going up, inflation is down, interest rates are down. Things are going in the right direction. Things take longer than two years, and there will be a new Labour Prime Minister to lead us through the next stage of our country’s story.”
She added: “There’s no such thing as gratitude in politics, unfortunately. And really, what matters isn’t how people are feeling, it’s that there’s a massive job to do for the country. We’ve still got a majority of [over] 150, there’s going to be a new Labour Prime Minister now, because of what Keir Starmer achieved in turning the party around and winning that historic landslide.
“There will be strong feelings today, and people will have their say at this moment. We need to choose the new leader. Our Labour MPs need to help us to do that, and then we need to get on with governing this country.
“What you need to do sometimes when you’re a leader, there’s what you want to do, but you also have to listen, and he had an opportunity to hear from many of his colleagues, both ministers and in the wider parliamentary party, and it was pretty clear that the confidence had been shaken sufficiently that he felt this was the right thing to do for the country.
“And difficult though I’m sure this is for him personally, and for many of us, I think he has made the right decision for the benefit of the country. There will be a new Prime Minister, and I know that Keir and many others who have supported Keir will now want to see the new Prime Minister succeed.”
On his place in history, she said: “I think they’ll remember him as a decent, dignified man of integrity, and I think that he will be seen as quite a rare prime minister in that somebody who not just achieved electoral success but actually put the building blocks in place.
“What I’m convinced [about] is going to be, when we get to the next general election, a really strong Labour government which has taken this country in the right direction.”