He explained that he had wrestled with what was best for himself, the country and the government, and said the decision involved conversations with colleagues, advisers, trade unions and others. But in the end, he said, it became deeply personal.
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“That’s why it was a decision taken ultimately when Vic and I were away with the kids,” he said. “We went to Chequers and just spent two days together as a family. And that’s when I came to my final decision.”
Starmer added that deciding your political career is over is “an intensely personal matter”, and said he wanted to make that choice with his wife.
He is only the seventh Labour leader ever to become Prime Minister, but he is now set to go down as the party’s shortest-serving PM, having spent just over two years in Downing Street. Even so, he said he will continue serving his Holborn and St Pancras constituents until at least the next general election.
There has also been speculation that Starmer could be heading for a new role at the United Nations or NATO, though no such move has been confirmed. In the interview, he also defended his record by saying Labour had been close to collapse after Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, and claimed his own work helped save the party.
“The Labour Party arguably could have been lost, but I stepped up as leader and with others we saved the Labour Party,” he said. Starmer insisted his 2024 landslide should be remembered alongside the historic victories of Tony Blair in 1997 and Clement Attlee in 1945.
