KUALA LUMPUR - British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's decision to step down less than two years after securing a landslide election victory reflects mounting challenges over his government's performance, unfulfilled promises and the lingering impact of Brexit, a political analyst said.
Head of School and Associate Professor in the School of Politics at the University of Nottingham Malaysia, Dr Benjamin Robin Barton, said persistent criticism that Starmer lacked the charisma needed to deliver meaningful change had become a defining challenge of his premiership.
"So I think that really was the defining issue of his premiership. Then there are exogenous issues as well, such as Brexit and the souring of the relationship with the United States,” he said on Bernama TV’s programme Bernama World on Wednesday.
On Monday, Starmer announced that he would step down, with a successor expected to be in place before Parliament returns in September, making him Britain's sixth prime minister to leave office since the 2016 Brexit referendum.
The announcement came less than two years after Starmer secured a landslide election victory on a promise to restore stability to British politics. He said he would support whoever succeeds him as prime minister.
According to Barton, there is currently no clear consensus on Britain's future direction.
"Is Britain moving closer to the European Union to one day join back again? Is it the status quo that we are seeing right now?” he said.
He noted that Brexit continues to shape British politics a decade after the referendum.
"It is 10 years now since Brexit, but a lot of development is still driven by Brexit, with Britain moving into its seventh prime minister in 10 years since the referendum took place,” he said.- BERNAMA