Starmer to stand down as MP weeks after resigning as Prime Minister

Keir Starmer has announced he will stand down as an MP, triggering a by-election in his constituency weeks after resigning as Prime Minister in late July.

The Guardian and the BBC report Starmer's decision to leave Parliament entirely, while GB News notes the timing creates an immediate problem for his successor Andy Burnham - a by-election the new Prime Minister will be watching closely as an early test of his administration's standing. The Mirror and the Sun both confirm the by-election will proceed shortly. The seat has been Labour since its creation, but the margin and the turnout will tell the story.

This is the second Prime Minister in succession to leave the Commons soon after leaving office. Boris Johnson resigned his seat in June of last year; Liz Truss remains an MP. The pattern is newer than the precedent: Tony Blair stayed in Parliament for several weeks after standing down, then left in June. The question is whether the office now burns through its holders so completely that staying on the backbenches becomes untenable - or whether Starmer, like Johnson, simply saw no future there. The machinery is the same either way: a writ is moved, the date is set, and the new PM's first electoral test arrives whether he wants it or not.

Watch the by-election date and the majority. A hold is expected; the size of it isn't.