On Monday, Keir Starmer announced in an emotional statement that he would step down as leader of the ruling Labour Party, though he would continue to serve as caretaker prime minister until a new Labour leader is elected in the coming weeks.

On May 7, the Labor Party’s crushing defeat in a series of local and regional elections proved to be the final straw. This triggered a wave of government resignations and challenges.

In his resignation statement on Monday, Starmer tirelessly highlighted what he considered to be a series of domestic achievements, including a decline in the number of people waiting for treatment in the state-run National Health Service, greater protections for workers and renters, and signs that the British economy had finally begun to turn around in the months prior to the outbreak of the war in Iran.