While we await what is likely to be the coronation of Andy Burnham, we might wonder how it is that in the ten years since the Brexit vote were about to have in the UK our seventh PM... that one every 20 months (on average, some lasted a little less, some a bit longer)?
There are a range of reasons, perhaps most importantly rebellious (impatient) MPs, but it also a job that is difficult to succeed at when the underlying political economic conditions in the UK are so 'challenging'!
then you alienate great swathes of the population by banning peaceful protest, jury trials and sending carboad holding pensioners to prison, allow mega corps etc to evade vast swathes of taxes, but threaten even more welfare cuts....
On top of a bad economy, you shoot yourself in the foot, repeatedly.
Yes, there is no doubt Keir is the agent of his own misfortunes
@Thebratdragon @ChrisMayLA6 yeah like, all this ‘we're ungovernable’ nonsense seems to rather overlook that nobody is seriously trying.
There's real problems, social and economic, and Brexit certainly amplified many, yet the political class keeps doing the same stuff that got us here whilst seeming genuinely baffled that it doesn't make anything better.
Worth recalling that in the first eighteen years of my life the #uk had no fewer than six #primeministers so a degree of churn is not unprecedented. Two of the six - #anthonyeden and #alecdouglashome - served for less time than #keirstarmer has done.
fair comment....
UK economy in charts:
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/22/keir-starmer-economy-labour-growth-unemployment
Almost 100% public debt relative to GDP... that's a lot. Shooted up after 2008 and never came back down despite all the austerity measures by the Tories, which if anything made matters worse by slowing down growth.
Nope, highly misleading to focus on that - its not out of line with other countries & is perfectly sustainable & indeed could be increased by a Govt. who knew how to 'handle' and market traders...
The "impatience" of the UK electorate as spelled out by Freedland doesn't bode well:
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-interactive/2026/jun/22/the-rise-and-fall-of-keir-starmer-where-did-it-all-go-wrong
Something has definitely changed. Whether Brexit was cause or effect. Something has changed.
With a stonking majority it should have been a case of pushing through what he promised and not governing by media opinion...
Indeed, the fair of courage & fortitude - governing like he was in a minority Govt. - was *the* overarching error (well, that & his inability to actually commit)
Some of us are just waiting for the next general election so we can vote for an anti-zionist prime minister.
Yes, I'd agree; privatisation & austerity are the two big policy shifts that lie behind most of the UK's problems in one way or another. And while Labour may shift away from (some) privatisations they seem as yet unlikely to shift the fiscal logic away from an austerity logic
@ChrisMayLA6 I thought the conventional wisdom is that both major political parties have had a realignment: the Tories by becoming committed to Brexit — previously they had been divided about the EU —, and Labour by losing working class voters and gaining professional class ones. Isn't that the primary explanation?
the posited 'realignment' might explain policy shifts, but I'm not sure how it would explain the churn of PMs?
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