Keir Starmer to Liz Truss: The UK’s six prime ministers over the last decade

Britain is set to witness a period of unprecedented political instability, with the resignation of Sir Keir Starmer paving the way for a record-breaking sixth prime minister in just 10 years.

Keir Starmer has announced that he will resign as leader of the Labor Party after less than two years in office, paving the way for the end of his tenure as prime minister.

This rapid change is in stark contrast to previous periods when the same number of leaders were spread over a much longer period of time.

The past decade has seen a succession of leaders occupy Downing Street: Theresa May (2016-19), Boris Johnson (2019-22), Liz Truss (2022), Rishi Sunak (2022-24) and Sir Keir Starmer (2024-26).

The next prime minister is expected to take office in September, marking an unprecedented pace of change.

By comparison, the previous four decades saw only six people in senior positions: Jim Callaghan (1976-79), Margaret Thatcher (1979-90), John Major (1990-97), Tony Blair (1997-2007), Gordon Brown (2007-10) and David Cameron (2010-16).

Never before has modern political history recorded six different prime ministers in a decade.

Although there have been significant leadership changes in other periods, none of them fit the current trend.

Five prime ministers served between 1954 and 1964: Winston Churchill (until 1955), Anthony Eden (1955-57), Harold Macmillan (1957-63), Alec Douglas-Home (1963-64) and Harold Wilson (1964-70).

A similar number of individuals were in office from 1914 to 1924: Herbert Asquith (until 1916), David Lloyd George (2016-22), Andrew Bonar Law (1922-23), Stanley Baldwin (1923-24) and Ramsay MacDonald (1924).

But to find a turnover of prime ministers equivalent to today, you have to go back to the 19th century, when only a minority of the population had the right to vote and the UK had not yet become a full parliamentary democracy.

When Sir Keir Starmer’s successor takes office in September, there will be nine former prime ministers living in the UK: a new record.

The nine prime ministers, with their current titles, are: Sir John Major, Sir Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Lord Cameron, Baroness May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer.

They are likely to appear with the new prime minister at Remembrance Sunday at the Cenotaph in central London in November.