Keir Starmer to stay on as MP but unlikely to want cabinet role

Spokesperson says departing PM will serve out remainder of his term representing Holborn and St Pancras

Keir Starmer will remain the MP for Holborn and St Pancras after standing down as prime minister, Downing Street has confirmed.

Starmer’s spokesperson said he was not expecting to take a role in Andy Burnham’s cabinet if offered one, though some MPs have suggested Burnham could make Starmer foreign secretary.

The spokesperson said Starmer would serve out the remainder of his term in the Commons and he was “going to remain” a Labour MP.

Asked whether he would take a cabinet job if offered, the spokesperson said Starmer had told his cabinet: “This is the end of my journey, but this is not the end of yours.”

Starmer has an 11,000 majority in his central London seat, though it would be a significant target for the Greens if he were to vacate it.

Speaking during prime minister’s questions on Wednesday, Starmer said he would miss the weekly sessions and continued: “I’m very proud of every one of our MPs who’ve had a landslide Labour victory, coming from all different backgrounds, from all different places across the country. We inflicted the biggest loss on the Tory party opposite in the history of their party. We picked up our party, we turned it around.”

If Burnham is unopposed as a candidate to succeed Starmer, he is expected to enter Downing Street on 17 July. Starmer will attend next month’s Nato summit in Ankara as one of his last acts as prime minister, and will deliver the defence investment plan.

Starmer met Burnham on Tuesday for the first time since the Makerfield byelection in what aides called a “frosty” meeting. The talks were held away from No 10 and are understood to have lasted around an hour.

Sources said it was clear there was a strained relationship between the two sides. “Keir has shown time and again that he will put the interests of the country first but it is fair to say the meeting wasn’t the warmest,” one source said.

Starmer has agreed that his likely successor can have access talks with the civil service, including the cabinet secretary, Antonia Romeo, before he enters Downing Street. The process normally takes place with the leader of the opposition before a general election.

Starmer’s spokesperson said he had agreed there would be “no new major policy or spending commitments” before he stood down that could tie his successor’s hands. This does not include the defence plan, which the prime minister regards as settled.