'Teary Keir Starmer’s enforced abdication and grinning Andy Burnham’s looming coronation perfectly illustrate why politics is a tough, rough, unforgiving, cruel trade with little room for sentiment,' Kevin Maguire writes

This weekend Keir Starmer is talking to his cabinet, his staff and Labour MPs as it seems his premiership is hanging by a thread.

The prime minister is facing an imminent challenge from Andy Burnham, fresh off his Makerfield election victory.

Labour grandees, including some Cabinet ministers, told the Prime Minister that his time was up following Mr Burnham's thumping victory in the Makerfield by-election.

For his Labour critics, Andy Burnham is just Keir Starmer in a black T-shirt. They mutter that the new MP for Makerfield lacks substance and would be quickly found out as PM.…

At Mr Burnham's victory rally in Makerfield, Ms Haigh said: 'I hope the Prime Minister takes the weekend to really reflect on the result here.'

Ministers say PM faces being forced out by party if he does not act, with one calling his departure inevitable

A member of UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Cabinet said it would be "delusional" to pretend there was no threat to his position. But he also said he had no information…

If the Makerfield MP is to be our next PM, he needs some immediate and memorable cost of living policies to avoid his predecessor’s fate, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee

Ian Birrell: Westminster's dirty secret led us to the Iraq War and Brexit

Starmer may be on his way out but the issues that constrained his premiership won’t go with him

The embattled British prime minister is widely expected to announce a plan for his exit just as his likely successor, Andy Burnham, arrives in Westminster.

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Many in Labour anticipate a ‘coronation’, rather than leadership contest, with Andy Burnham the only candidate

Many in Labour anticipate a ‘coronation’, rather than leadership contest, with Andy Burnham the only candidate

There was no sense of relief. A certain sadness fell over his team

The prime minister’s statement was about preserving his dignity – but became a rare display of emotion from a leader who the public have struggled to warm to, writes political…

What a brutish business politics is. Sir Keir accepted his fate with reluctant grace but towards the end the understated, bitten-back Englishness of it all became a little too…

Outgoing PM never recovered from rocky first impression, but likely successor Andy Burnham will need more than charisma to stave off populist challengers

'Teary Keir Starmer’s enforced abdication and grinning Andy Burnham’s looming coronation perfectly illustrate why politics is a tough, rough, unforgiving, cruel trade with little…

Smiling ‘King of the North’ makes triumphant return to Westminster as PM steps down ‘with good grace’