Starmer warns Burnham: it's not possible to spend less time on diplomacy
Former UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has warned his likely successor Andy Burnham that reducing time spent on international affairs is not feasible. Starmer also revealed he made his resignation decision during a family weekend at Chequers.
Keir Starmer, who announced his resignation last month after two years as prime minister, has warned his likely successor Andy Burnham that it will not be possible to spend less time focusing on international affairs.
In a BBC interview, the outgoing Labour leader reflected on criticism he faced throughout his premiership for spending too much time on the world stage instead of domestic issues, with opponents calling him “never here Keir”. Burnham has largely focused on domestic matters as he sets out his stall to be the next prime minister.
However, Starmer cautioned that the future prime minister would not be able to spend less time grappling with global turmoil than he did. “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,” he told the BBC. “It’s not sensible to think you can just separate these two things out.”
Asked if he believed it was possible for his successor to spend less time on diplomacy, Starmer said: “No, I don’t think it is possible. So this suggestion you can really, in the modern era, simply split up the international and domestic, is just … it just doesn’t make sense.”
Starmer also spoke about his decision to resign, describing it as “intensely personal”. He said the final decision came during a weekend with his family at Chequers, the grace-and-favour country estate available to all prime ministers. “For me, and this may be different for other people, in the end it became an intensely personal decision, and that’s why it was a decision taken ultimately when Vic and I were away with the kids, we went to Chequers and just spent two days together as a family, and that’s when I came to my final decision.”
He also said he believed he had “saved” the Labour party and had been a successful prime minister, adding he promised to “keep my mouth shut” under his successor.
Burnham earlier gave an indication of his foreign policy stance when he took part in an “Ask Me Anything” session on Reddit. The Makerfield MP said he would “100%” give the same level of support to Ukraine as Starmer had and suggested he wanted to continue with the outgoing prime minister’s efforts to broker a closer relationship with the EU.
