His Labour government's achievements are undeniable, from reform of renters' rights to cutting NHS waiting lists. But Starmer struggled with a system that has chewed up and spat out six PMs in a decade16:33, 22 Jun 2026It was the hope that killed him.‌Keir Starmer swept to power on a wave of optimism as fed-up voters kicked the Tories out after 14 years. But the landslide that delivered a near record Commons majority was the root of his undoing.‌Labour’s election masterminds found a way to win by being everything to everyone. But once in power, Starmer struggled to hold this electoral coalition together and at times ended up pleasing no one.‌His Government made mistakes that led us to this moment. But deep public hostility towards him is out of step with what he has achieved. It is symptomatic of our divided times, the fracturing of two-party politics and the deep frustration of voters.A wave of public fury crashed against the door of Starmer's No10, fuelled by years of austerity and economic malaise that has left people feeling the system doesn’t work for them.‌Generational reformStarmer is a good man, motivated by public service. He didn't crash the economy like Liz Truss, or hold lockdown-busting parties like Boris Johnson. But he was unable to meet this moment, to deliver change fast enough for voters.He struggled to articulate his governing purpose and to sell his achievements - but they are there for even his staunchest critics to see. He transformed the Labour Party, stamping out anti-semitism in its ranks and taking it from its worst election result in decades to power in just one term.His Government has delivered generational reforms to rights for renters and workers, increasing wages for lower paid workers. A huge overhaul is underway of the justice system, and work is happening on an ambitious strategy to tackle violence against women and girls.‌Scrapping the two-child benefit cap will lift half a million kids out of poverty. Free breakfast clubs are being rolled out in primary schools and free school meals are being extended to half a million kids in September. Some 1,000 Best Start Hubs are being opened to help families, and game-changing promises for 30 hours of free childcare have been rolled out.NHS waiting times have been falling, net migration has nearly halved in the last year, asylum claims and small boat arrivals are down. The Government has begun renationalising the railways. Only last week, he pledged to bring in a landmark ban on social media for under-16s.‌His record on the world stage has been impressive. He skilfully built a relationship with the mercurial Donald Trump, protecting Britain from the worst of his tariff threats. He built a Coalition of the Willing to defend Ukraine and famously embraced Volodymyr Zelensky in the street after Mr Trump savaged him in the Oval Office. He kept Britain out of Trump's Iran war and repaired our relationship with Europe after the Tories smashed it to bits.It is quite a list of achievements in two years. But that was all he was allowed before he was forced out.Dark forcesStarmer has never been a typical politician. He had spent years as a human rights lawyer, and then director of public prosecutions, not arriving in Parliament until 2015 at the age of 52. This part of his appeal - a grown up, ready to get on with the job for a public jaded by years of political psychodrama.‌In his first speech outside No10, he promised a politics that would "tread more lightly on your lives". But his disdain for politics meant it tripped him up time and again.Cocky after its thumping win, his Government made its first big mistake only weeks in. Stripping the winter fuel allowance for millions of pensioners was designed to show Labour could take the tough choices to fix the economy.Instead, it looked like Labour didn’t care - and had misled voters on what it stood for. Then came a summer of disorder in the wake of the Southport murders. Starmer brought the full might of the law against the thugs rioting on the streets, but failed to really grasp the dark forces that were already starting to take hold.‌A gloomy speech in the Downing Street garden where he warned the Budget would be painful drained away any remaining optimism, and damaging headlines about ministers accepting freebies further fuelled public unease about who his Government stood for.He never really recovered from these early failures - in part because the hope the voters felt had been smashed to smithereens.‌Once his Government U-turned on its botched welfare reforms last summer, his grip on his party started to unravel. More U-turns followed on inheritance tax for farmers, business rates for pubs, mandatory digital ID, an inquiry into the grooming gangs scandal.He tried more than once to reset, but more scandals erupted. The worst of all was his appointment of Peter Mandelson as US ambassador - who he was later forced to sack due to his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.Then voters kicked back. In Gorton and Denton, where Labour lost to the Greens after party chiefs blocked Andy Burnham from standing. The local elections where the party was hammered in its English heartlands, ousted from power for the first time in more than 100 years in Wales, and pushed into third place in Scotland.‌The eruption of anger in the days after was among the most brutal periods I've ever covered in Parliament, which includes the fall of Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.Shell-shockedI interviewed Starmer many times for the Mirror but the last one I did with him in May was the moment I knew it was over. Shell-shocked by the scale of Labour's losses, he struggled to articulate how he could turn things around.Behind the scenes, Starmer could be insightful, funny and kind. He always wanted to know what Mirror readers cared about. It was at odds with how he appeared in public.‌The most striking thing is just how normal he is. An ordinary man living an extraordinary life, who defied the challenges of his childhood to take on the highest office in the land.He wore this transformation awkwardly, which may be why his stories about his working class background - however unfairly - struck people as inauthentic.‌He did have a vision - of a country where the circumstances of your birth don’t define who you become. But like Rishi Sunak, he just wanted to get on with the nitty gritty.That is a laudable aim. But it is not what the public wants anymore. Voters are craving something to hold on to. A glimmer of hope that the things they love about this country aren’t gone. That life could be better, fairer and just a bit easier than it is now.Watching another Prime Minister chewed up and spat out by the system raises questions about how this country is becoming hard to govern.Article continues belowThere have been six Prime Ministers since the Brexit referendum a decade ago. Only Rishi Sunak lost a general election. David Cameron was undone by Brexit, while Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and now Starmer were all brought down by their own MPs.Starmer had the right diagnosis when he said fixing Britain’s problems was a 10-year project. But he wasn’t able to deliver the remedy. If it's Andy Burnham who comes next, he will need every ounce of political skill to succeed where Starmer failed.