Sir Keir Starmer has warned his likely successor Andy Burnham will have to spend just as much time dealing with global turmoil as he has during his time in No 10.
In an untypically candid interview, the outgoing prime minister spoke for the first time about the “intensely personal” and “really tough” decision he took alongside his wife and children to accept that his “political career” was “over”.
Sir Keir told the BBC he had “saved” the Labour Party and been a successful prime minister.
He promised to “keep my mouth shut” under his successor, insisting that he liked Burnham and the pair had “always got on”.
Among Burnham’s supporters in parliament are those who hope he will be able to focus more on issues in the UK such as the cost of living and public services.
“It is not sensible to think you can just separate these two things out,” Sir Keir said.
Asked if a prime minister could spend less time on diplomacy than him, he replied: “No, I don’t think it is possible.”
He added: “There’s often this discussion – what’s the right balance between dealing with international affairs and dealing with domestic affairs? They’re one and the same thing.”
Sir Keir continued: “Whoever’s my successor is going to face the same global conflict. We keep saying, and it’s true, we’re in a more dangerous and volatile world than we’ve been in for probably most of my lifetime. That’s not just a phrase, that’s reality.
“That’s not going to change. And the domestic challenges aren’t going to change.”
PAHaving repeatedly vowed to fight on as prime minister, including facing any challengers in a Labour leadership election, Sir Keir ultimately changed his mind and resigned within three days of Burnham’s victory in the Makerfield by-election.
He described it as a “really, really tough” decision which he ultimately came to that weekend with his wife, Victoria, and teenage children at Chequers, the prime minister’s countryside residence.
“I grappled with what was the best thing to do for me, for the country, for the government,” Sir Keir said. “And those discussions inevitably start with many discussions with colleagues, with parliamentary colleagues, with the team here, with my immediate advisers, with trade unions, so many people in that discussion.
“But for me, and this may be different for other people, in the end it became an intensely personal decision. And that’s why it was a decision taken ultimately when Vic and I were away with the kids. We went to Chequers and just spent two days together as a family. And that’s when I came to my final decision.”
He added: “Taking the decision that your political career is over, it is an intensely personal matter, or at least it was for me. I wanted to do that with Vic, and that’s what I did.”
Sir Keir appeared to acknowledge that his successor is almost certain to be Burnham, although at other times he made reference to “whoever my successor is” and said there was “a little bit of process to go”.
He said he had “never had any personal animosity” towards the former Greater Manchester mayor and that he would “do everything I possibly can to make sure” that the next government succeeds.
Sir Keir committed to remaining an MP until at least the next election but said he would be “keeping my mouth shut, rather than giving constant advice to my successor about what they should be doing”.
He made clear that he sees his four years as Labour leader in opposition as “absolutely core” to his legacy.
Describing Labour when he became leader as “politically, financially and morally bankrupt”, he said it had been “hard and bloody work”.
Sir Keir said that in electoral terms his success should sit alongside Clement Attlee’s victory in 1945 and Sir Tony Blair’s in 1997.
He added: “The Labour Party arguably could have been lost, but I stepped up as leader and with others we saved the Labour Party”.
But he said he had been ousted because Labour MPs no longer believed he was “the right person to take us into the next election”.
