LONDON: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer almost broke down on Monday when he found himself on the biggest heap in history when, like Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss before him, he was outnumbered. 10 by their own MPs.After just two years in the job, having seen his authority within his party eroded following Andy Burnham’s landslide victory in the Makerfield by-election, Lecter appeared before Number 10 and delivered his resignation speech to Starmer, despite previously insisting he would not resign.Nigel Farage, head of Reform Britain, called for a snap general election. Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” was blasted from a loudspeaker outside the gate by anti-Brexit campaigner Steve Bray, almost drowning out his words and making it sound like a funeral service.On Monday, after a weekend of deliberations at Chequers, in front of a crowd of Number 10 staff and press, Starmer said he knew his party did not think he was in the best position to lead Labor into the next general election. “I have heard the answer and I accept that answer heartily,” he said, explaining that he had already informed the king that he was stepping down. Nominations for the Labor Party leadership contest will open on 9 July and will be completed by 16 July. “I will give my full support to my successor,” he said, adding that he would remain as acting prime minister until a new PM is appointed, which would be before September 1 and could be much earlier.“When I leave the biggest job in the country, I’ll spend more time on the most important job: being the best husband I can be to my wonderful wife, Vic,” he said, his voice breaking and a wobbly chin, “and being the best father I can be to my beautiful children.” After this he went to hug Victoria and the staff applauded. It was a rare moment when Starmer managed to connect with the public, something he was unable to do throughout his time as Prime Minister, which led to Labor’s election defeat and a surge in Reform UK. Starmer has been voted the most unpopular UK PM on record.The market did not react to the resignation as expected. Ex-Tory MP Michael Gove on Sunday described Starmer looking out over the lawn of Checkers and seeing “Burnham Wood” moving towards Chequers, a parallel to Birnham Wood coming to Dunsinane, predicting the fall of Macbeth.The cameras quickly moved to Manchester, where Andy Burnham was mobbed by the press as he boarded the 11.39am train to London to be sworn in as the new Makerfield MP. Before boarding he had tweeted that he planned to run in a leadership contest. Three minutes later former Health Secretary Wes Streeting, considered the main challenger to her leadership, tweeted that he supported Burnham and would not stand. When the train reached Euston, TV channels filmed it from helicopters, where upon reaching Burnham the police stopped the press and she was driven to Parliament in a black taxi. The Cambridge-educated Burnham, who would become Britain’s first Catholic prime minister, has built an alternative Labor brand in Manchester by breaking away from Westminster tactics. Starmer, a former lawyer, is often described as rigid, managerial and process-driven, while Burnham is seen as more charismatic, trustworthy and emotionally intelligent.Throughout his tenure as Labor leader, Keir Starmer criticized “Tory anarchy”. But on Monday he became the second-shortest-serving Labor PM ever, the first being Ramsay MacDonald who lasted nine months in 1924.Britain’s next Prime Minister will be the seventh in a decade. Ed Davey, head of the Liberal Democrats, tweeted, “The British people are fed up of being frustrated by the endless revelry of Prime Ministers, while nothing actually changes.” Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said: “Keir Starmer resigned because the former defense secretary said he was not looking after national security. If Andy Burnham has no answers on national security, we should have a general election.““Andy Burnham didn’t even stand on a manifesto in the last election. The great British public deserves to have their say,” said Farage, whose party is leading in the polls.Streeting said, referring to Labour’s disastrous local election results, “Andy Burnham won back the part of the country that had rejected the Labor Party by a huge majority just a few weeks ago, which shows that if the Labor Party changes we can still win a general election.” It was those results, and the recent acrimonious resignation letter of former Defense Secretary John Healey, Starmer’s misappropriation of Peter Mandelson as US Ambassador, the unpopular inheritance tax on farmers, cuts to pensioners’ winter fuel allowances, the Chagos deal, the scrapping of jury trials and many other policies and mistakes, that ultimately led to Starmer’s downfall.