2026-06-21T09:56:00-0400 / 哥伦比亚广播公司/美联社
英国首相基尔·斯塔默预计很快就会决定是辞职下台，还是面对代表工党的政治对手安迪·伯纳姆发起的领导力挑战。
斯塔默曾公开誓言会留任，但随着越来越多工党同僚认定他的任期已到，施压之声日益高涨。外界越来越多地预计，他最快将于周一宣布辞职时间表。当天正是伯纳姆在上周赢得议会补选后，宣誓就任下议院议员的日子。
商务大臣彼得·凯尔周日表示，斯塔默“正抽出时间反思自身面临的政治现实、挑战与机遇”。
“我知道他是一位始终将国家利益置于首位的首相，”凯尔在接受哥伦比亚广播公司新闻的合作机构英国广播公司新闻采访时说道，但他同时称有关斯塔默即将辞职的报道是“猜测”。
斯塔默本周正与家人在首相官邸契克斯庄园度过周末。他未就自己的决定公开表态，但在社交媒体上分享了父亲节感言。
“为人父母是我最大的幸福。今天，我思念我的父亲，也正因他，我才能成为孩子们的好父亲，”他在X平台上写道。
如果斯塔默辞职，他将成为过去10年来第六位卸任的首相，这对英国而言是极高的人事更迭频率。
英国首相基尔·斯塔默2026年6月19日周五在伦敦北部参观一处住宅开发项目时与当地居民交谈。彼得·麦克迪亚米德/泳池照片 美联社供图
通过党内选举，英国各政党可随时更换领导人，包括首相。只要足够多的党内议员对领导人失去信任，即便未举行大选，也可完成领导人更替。英国法律规定大选至少每五年举行一次，但也允许现任政府提前召集大选。若首相换人，执政党将继续执掌政府，直至举行全民大选。
尽管斯塔默未透露下一步计划，但美国前总统特朗普周日在Truth Social平台发文称，这位首相将会辞职。
“基尔·斯塔默将辞去英国首相一职，”特朗普写道，“他在两大至关重要的议题上表现糟糕至极——移民与能源（开放北海石油！）。祝他一切顺利！”
对斯塔默的不满已酝酿数月，工党议员迫切希望扭转政府支持率下滑的局面。斯塔默曾在2024年7月带领这个中左翼政党以压倒性优势赢得大选。
他一直难以兑现承诺的经济增长目标，难以修复破败的公共服务，难以缓解生活成本危机，还接连遭遇失误掣肘，其中包括任命曾卷入丑闻的杰弗里·爱泼斯坦好友彼得·曼德尔森出任英国驻美大使。
工党正逐渐失去自由派选民，这些选民转而支持日益壮大的绿党，同时还面临崛起的改革英国党——由奈杰尔·法拉奇领导的反移民政党，该党在全国民调中始终稳居前列。
伯纳姆直到本周仍是大曼彻斯特郡广受民众欢迎的郡长，他在周四举行的议会补选中以绝对优势赢得英格兰西北部梅克菲尔德选区的议席。在45510张有效选票中，他获得了近55%的支持率，比位居第二的改革英国党候选人多出9000多张选票。
如今身为议员的他，已具备挑战斯塔默工党领袖职位的资格。伯纳姆的胜选感言毫无疑义地表明，他希望领导工党乃至整个英国。
“人人都知道政治失灵了，”他说，“人人都能感受到国家并未步入正轨。今晚或许，只是或许，会成为转折点。”
目前尚不清楚，如果斯塔默下台，伯纳姆是否会在无竞争的情况下直接接任，还是会遭遇党内挑战。上月为抗议斯塔默的领导风格而辞去卫生大臣职务的韦斯·斯特里廷曾表示，如果举行工党领袖选举，他将参选。
斯塔默周五对伯纳姆表示祝贺，但坚称会反击任何将他赶下台的企图。
“如果工党举行领袖选举，我会参选，我会坚守阵地，”斯塔默说道，“我已多次表明，我不会就此甩手离开。”
但上议院工党资深议员查理·福克纳周六表示，斯塔默已“完全丧失公信力”。
“应当商定一个过渡程序，让安迪和基尔就交接时机展开合作，”他告诉英国广播公司。
塔克·里尔兹对本文亦有贡献。
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer under pressure to resign after special election
2026-06-21T09:56:00-0400 / CBS/AP
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is expected to decide soon whether he will step down from his position or face a leadership challenge from a political rival, Andy Burnham, who represents the country’s Labour Party.
Starmer has publicly vowed to stay in the post, but pressure is building as more and more Labour Party colleagues conclude his time is up. Expectation is growing that he will announce a timetable for his resignation as soon as Monday. That’s the day Burnham will be sworn in as a lawmaker in the House of Commons after winning a special election last week.
Business Secretary Peter Kyle said Sunday that Starmer is “making time to reflect on the political realities, challenges and opportunities that he finds himself in.”
“I know he is a prime minister who always puts his country first,” Kyle told CBS News partner BBC News, though he called reports that Starmer will resign are “speculation.”
Starmer is spending the weekend at Chequers, the country mansion used by British prime ministers, with his family. He gave no public hint about his decision, but shared a Father’s Day message on social media.
“Being a dad is my greatest joy. Today, I’m thinking about my dad, and the father I am to my children because of him,” he wrote on X.
If Starmer quits, he will be the sixth prime minister to leave office in the past 10 years, an extraordinary rate of churn for the United Kingdom.
Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks with local residents as he visits a housing development in north London, Friday, June 19, 2026. Peter Macdiarmid/Pool Photo via AP
Through internal elections, political parties in the U.K. can replace their leaders, including prime ministers, at any time. That can happen if enough members of a party lose confidence in a leader, even if no general election is held. U.K. law requires a general election to take place at least once every five years, but it also allows one to be called sooner than that by the government in power. If a prime minister is replaced, the reigning political party remains in charge of the government until a wider vote is held.
Although Starmer has not shared details about what he plans to do next, President Trump said the prime minister would be resigning in a Truth Social post on Sunday.
“Keir Starmer will resign as Prime Minister of The United Kingdom,” Mr. Trump wrote. “He failed badly on two very important subjects- IMMIGRATION AND ENERGY (OPEN NORTH SEA OIL!). I wish him well!”
Discontent with Starmer has been building for months, with Labour lawmakers desperate to reverse the government’s decline in popularity since Starmer led the center-left party to a landslide election victory in July 2024.
He has struggled to deliver promised economic growth, repair tattered public services and ease the cost of living, and has been hamstrung by repeated missteps, including his decision to appoint Peter Mandelson, a scandal-tarnished friend of Jeffrey Epstein, as the U.K. ambassador to the United States.
Labour is losing liberal voters to the growing Green Party and facing a rising Reform UK, the Nigel Farage-led anti-immigration party that consistently leads in nationwide opinion polls.
Burnham, until this week the popular mayor of Greater Manchester, decisively won the seat of Makerfield in northwestern England in a special election held Thursday. He took almost 55% of the 45,510 votes cast, over 9,000 more than the Reform UK runner-up.
Now that he is a lawmaker, he’s in a position to challenge Starmer for leadership of the Labour Party. Burnham’s acceptance speech left no doubt that he wants to lead both the party and the country.
“Everyone knows that politics isn’t working,” he said. “Everyone can feel that the country isn’t where it should be. Tonight could, just could, be the turning point.”
It’s unclear whether Burnham would face a coronation or a challenge if Starmer steps aside. Wes Streeting, who resigned as health secretary last month to protest Starmer’s leadership, has said he will run in a contest if there is one.
Starmer congratulated Burnham on Friday, but insisted he would fight any attempt to oust him.
“I will run, I will stand,” if there is a Labour leadership contest, Starmer said. “I’ve said repeatedly I’m not going to walk away from that.”
But Charlie Falconer, a senior Labour member of the House of Lords, said Saturday that Starmer has “absolutely no authority” left.
“There should be an agreed transition process in which Andy and Keir cooperate as to when the handover should take place,” he told the BBC.
and Tucker Reals contributed to this report.