{"text":[[{"start":6.5,"text":"Sir Keir Starmer has announced that he will step down as prime minister amid a collapse in his popularity less than two years after he swept the Labour Party back to power with a promise to rebuild Britain."}],[{"start":19.4,"text":"Starmer said on Monday: “I have heard the answer of my parliamentary party to that question and I accept that answer with good grace.”"}],[{"start":27.65,"text":"He said his decisions had always been about putting the country first. “That is why I will resign as leader of the Labour Party,” he added."}],[{"start":35.9,"text":"Starmer’s departure is expected to pave the way for Andy Burnham to seize control of Number 10. The former Greater Manchester mayor’s decisive defeat of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK in last week’s Makerfield by-election stripped the prime minister of his remaining authority."}],[{"start":52.2,"text":"Starmer’s premiership has been under siege since Labour was routed in local elections in May, when Reform UK made advances across the country."}],[{"start":61.6,"text":"His two years in office have been beset by the Peter Mandelson scandal and a series of policy U-turns including on winter fuel payments to pensioners, while he has struggled to check the rise of the populist rightwing party Reform UK."}],[{"start":75.15,"text":"On Friday, Burnham won a convincing 54.8 per cent of the vote in Makerfield, ahead of the Reform candidate’s 34.5 per cent, in a white working-class seat that is squarely in the heartlands of Farage’s party."}],[{"start":88.35000000000001,"text":"The former Manchester mayor emerged as the frontrunner for the Labour leadership after health secretary Wes Streeting, also seen as a potential challenger to Starmer, stopped short of launching his own bid earlier this year."}],[{"start":109.05000000000001,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1782121508_9578.mp3"}