{"id":252,"date":"2026-06-23T16:07:33","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T16:07:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/?p=252"},"modified":"2026-06-23T16:07:33","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T16:07:33","slug":"the-u-k-felled-its-sixth-prime-minister-in-10-years-our-own-trump-is-creeping-closer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/?p=252","title":{"rendered":"The U.K. Felled Its Sixth Prime Minister in 10 Years. Our Own Trump Is Creeping Closer."},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

We\u2019ve had so many prime ministers here in the U.K. in recent years that I have to count them off on my hands to make sure I\u2019m not forgetting anybody, and I\u2019m running out of fingers. Keir Starmer, who took the post two years ago, ending 14 years of Tory rule, announced his resignation on Monday, almost 10 years to the day that Britain voted to leave the European Union. He was our sixth PM in a decade.<\/p>\n

Read more Trump\u2019s Latest Court Loss Is a Doozy<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not surprising that Starmer has gone, but it is surprising that he only lasted two years. His election was supposed to mark the end of the revolving door at the top of government. Alas, it seems this is just how we do politics here now.<\/p>\n

The reason he\u2019s going has to do with a by-election in a suburban area of Wigan called Makerfield. Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester for the past nine years, until recently, has been making noises for a while about wanting to take over leadership of the Labour Party. He\u2019s run twice for Labour Party leadership, once in 2010, where he came fourth out of five candidates, and again in 2015, when he lost to Jeremy Corbyn. To make a bid for party leadership, he needed to become a member of Parliament, and so he ran in Makerfield. Burham won the Makerfield by-election on Thursday by 55 percent, which is important because it means he beat not only Reform UK but also the entire right-wing vote combined, in an area where the demographics skew older, whiter, and not in white-collar jobs. The by-election was a petri dish that Labour had been watching closely, because if Burnham could beat Reform on that stage, it might signal that he could beat Reform in a general election. The number of MPs who had pledged their support for Burham\u2019s leadership had neared 300 by the time Starmer said he would step down.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Reform UK, for those of you who are unfamiliar\u2014and how I envy you if that is so\u2014is our burgeoning homegrown MAGA-type thugs, led by toady pintman Nigel Farage. Google \u201cReform MP crimes\u201d if you\u2019d like a fuller picture of the kind of people we\u2019re dealing with here. They are doing alarmingly well in polling, and Labour is doing alarmingly badly.<\/p>\n

Starmer has not proved a popular PM, and Burnham is better liked. He\u2019s more charismatic than Starmer, that much is undeniable, with a kind of boyish charm, and he can do \u201cnormal bloke\u201d better than Starmer can. He\u2019s enjoyed a good reputation as Manchester\u2019s mayor, and many here remember his full-throated attacks on Boris Johnson during the pandemic. As recently as Friday, Starmer was saying he was going to stay on as prime minister and fight Burnham, but Burham\u2019s win prompted ministers to tell Starmer that if he didn\u2019t resign by Monday, a slew of them would jump ship on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

What the hell happened with Starmer? He\u2019s not done anything specific to occasion his needing to step down. He didn\u2019t get brought down by a scandal, like Boris Johnson after his lockdown parties, or get chased out of town for tanking the country\u2019s economy, like Liz Truss. But Starmer not doing<\/em> anything has sort of been the problem all along. When he came in two years ago, there was a general sense of relief. Not excitement, quite, but a muted kind of exhaling, because at least we had finally managed to shake off the Tories. Starmer was a former human rights lawyer who became a politician in 2015, and had an air of professional respectability about him that seemed like a refreshing change from the corruption and nasty populism that the Tories had been offering. But while Starmer had a majority when he was elected, it became known as the \u201cloveless landslide.\u201d He won decisively not because people wanted Labour, or Starmer, in particular, they just really, really didn\u2019t want the Tories.<\/p>\n

Read more The Supreme Court Quietly Embraced Clarence Thomas\u2019 Theory of Race. It\u2019s Already a Disaster.<\/a><\/p>\n

Starmer has done some good work. He\u2019s brought us closer to the EU again, raised taxes to fund schools, moved back toward nationalizing the railways, and brought about improved rights for the U.K.\u2019s enormous numbers of people who rent their housing. But by and large, he\u2019s been a huge disappointment. He thoroughly, thoroughly alienated the left, not least through his shameful refusal to condemn Israel\u2019s actions in Gaza and failure to stand up for the rights of trans people. He also failed to lure any of the right over to Labour\u2019s causes, even though he was obviously straining to do so in order to compete with Reform. A tough speech on immigration in which Starmer said that Britain was becoming \u201can island of strangers\u201d was a particularly low moment. It invited comparisons with Enoch Powell\u2019s infamous \u201crivers of blood\u201d speech, and went down so badly that he had to publicly denounce his own words some time later. You can\u2019t beat the rabid raving racist party at rabid raving racism, and he was a fool to try.<\/p>\n

Voters didn\u2019t think he had much vision or a coherent outlook back when he was elected, and so it has proved: His premiership has been characterized by an appearance of not having any clear goals for what kind of government he wanted, and not really sticking to any guns convincingly. That\u2019s part of what grated for many about watching Starmer fail to indict Israel: knowing that, as a onetime human rights lawyer, he could see full well what was happening in Gaza and was choosing, for reasons of greasing wheels with Trump and with Israel, to lie about it. He seemed like someone who would say whatever was required of him at the moment in hand, and to say it without a light behind his eyes. Because in addition to being ineffectual and incoherent, he was also uncharismatic with it. Blandness was his defining attribute, and how could the public feel supportive of someone they didn\u2019t feel they knew?<\/p>\n

Starmer was close to tears when he made his resignation speech outside Downing Street on Monday, announcing that after he steps down he will focus on the most important things, \u201cbeing the best husband I can\u201d and \u201cbeing the best dad I can to my beautiful children, who are my pride and my joy.\u201d Finally, some emotion, some human warmth, but too little, too late.<\/p>\n

And so, on we go, barrelling toward the next general election, which must take place by 2029 but will likely be sooner. Andy Burnham will almost certainly be leading Labour into it as the incumbent prime minister. Other MPs may run for the Labour leadership now, but Burnham looks likely to be PM by mid-July if he runs unopposed, as is expected.<\/p>\n

Burnham has a daunting task ahead of him. He needs to coax back voters on the left, who have absconded to the Green Party in large numbers, and the right, who are being wooed by Reform, to stop Farage from taking power at the next general election. Can he do it? He seems to have a better shot than Starmer, but that\u2019s not saying much. I fear Labour are still doomed to lose to Reform, but I hope I\u2019m wrong. We don\u2019t need our own Trump. We have enough trouble dealing with yours.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more Rebuilding Community and Restoring Meaning in America<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Andy Burnham is next\u2014but perhaps not for long.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":251,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[10,13,64,100,164],"class_list":["post-252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-donald-trump","tag-elections","tag-immigration","tag-politics","tag-united-kingdom"],"yoast_head":"\nThe U.K. Felled Its Sixth Prime Minister in 10 Years. Our Own Trump Is Creeping Closer. - Home Move Chronicle<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/?p=252\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The U.K. Felled Its Sixth Prime Minister in 10 Years. Our Own Trump Is Creeping Closer. - Home Move Chronicle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Andy Burnham is next\u2014but perhaps not for long.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/?p=252\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Home Move Chronicle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-23T16:07:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homemovechronicle.com\\\/?p=252#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homemovechronicle.com\\\/?p=252\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homemovechronicle.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/75d86f25dbb870f24983ccc831d1ec4e\"},\"headline\":\"The U.K. Felled Its Sixth Prime Minister in 10 Years. Our Own Trump Is Creeping Closer.\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-23T16:07:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homemovechronicle.com\\\/?p=252\"},\"wordCount\":1289,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homemovechronicle.com\\\/?p=252#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homemovechronicle.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/68f282eaf7deb0dbf4d1045baa00a51a.avif\",\"keywords\":[\"Donald Trump\",\"Elections\",\"Immigration\",\"Politics\",\"United Kingdom\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/homemovechronicle.com\\\/?p=252#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homemovechronicle.com\\\/?p=252\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homemovechronicle.com\\\/?p=252\",\"name\":\"The U.K. Felled Its Sixth Prime Minister in 10 Years. Our Own Trump Is Creeping Closer. - Home Move Chronicle\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homemovechronicle.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homemovechronicle.com\\\/?p=252#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homemovechronicle.com\\\/?p=252#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homemovechronicle.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/68f282eaf7deb0dbf4d1045baa00a51a.avif\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-23T16:07:33+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homemovechronicle.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/75d86f25dbb870f24983ccc831d1ec4e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homemovechronicle.com\\\/?p=252#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/homemovechronicle.com\\\/?p=252\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homemovechronicle.com\\\/?p=252#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homemovechronicle.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/68f282eaf7deb0dbf4d1045baa00a51a.avif\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homemovechronicle.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/68f282eaf7deb0dbf4d1045baa00a51a.avif\",\"width\":1560,\"height\":1040},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homemovechronicle.com\\\/?p=252#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homemovechronicle.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The U.K. Felled Its Sixth Prime Minister in 10 Years. Our Own Trump Is Creeping Closer.\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homemovechronicle.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homemovechronicle.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Home Move Chronicle\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homemovechronicle.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homemovechronicle.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/75d86f25dbb870f24983ccc831d1ec4e\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/homemovechronicle.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homemovechronicle.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The U.K. Felled Its Sixth Prime Minister in 10 Years. Our Own Trump Is Creeping Closer. - Home Move Chronicle","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/?p=252","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The U.K. Felled Its Sixth Prime Minister in 10 Years. Our Own Trump Is Creeping Closer. - Home Move Chronicle","og_description":"Andy Burnham is next\u2014but perhaps not for long.","og_url":"https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/?p=252","og_site_name":"Home Move Chronicle","article_published_time":"2026-06-23T16:07:33+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/?p=252#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/?p=252"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/#\/schema\/person\/75d86f25dbb870f24983ccc831d1ec4e"},"headline":"The U.K. Felled Its Sixth Prime Minister in 10 Years. Our Own Trump Is Creeping Closer.","datePublished":"2026-06-23T16:07:33+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/?p=252"},"wordCount":1289,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/?p=252#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/68f282eaf7deb0dbf4d1045baa00a51a.avif","keywords":["Donald Trump","Elections","Immigration","Politics","United Kingdom"],"articleSection":["Politics"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/?p=252#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/?p=252","url":"https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/?p=252","name":"The U.K. Felled Its Sixth Prime Minister in 10 Years. Our Own Trump Is Creeping Closer. - Home Move Chronicle","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/?p=252#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/?p=252#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/68f282eaf7deb0dbf4d1045baa00a51a.avif","datePublished":"2026-06-23T16:07:33+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/#\/schema\/person\/75d86f25dbb870f24983ccc831d1ec4e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/?p=252#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/?p=252"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/?p=252#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/68f282eaf7deb0dbf4d1045baa00a51a.avif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/68f282eaf7deb0dbf4d1045baa00a51a.avif","width":1560,"height":1040},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/?p=252#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The U.K. Felled Its Sixth Prime Minister in 10 Years. Our Own Trump Is Creeping Closer."}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/","name":"Home Move Chronicle","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/#\/schema\/person\/75d86f25dbb870f24983ccc831d1ec4e","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/homemovechronicle.com"],"url":"https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homemovechronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}