Chris Mason: The anatomy of the prime minister's downfall

Here is the latest breaking news from around the world: Chris Mason: The anatomy of the prime minister's downfallImage source, EPAImage caption, Sir Keir Starmer announcing his resignationByChris Mason Political editorPublished6 minutes agoFor month after month, week after week, sometimes day after day, we have chronicled the unravelling of Sir Keir Starmer's government. Nonetheless, it still prompted a sharp intake of breath on Monday morning to be standing in Downing Street yet again, awaiting another prime minister publicly reading the last rites on their time in the highest office. This wasn't a leader brought down by scandal, as Boris Johnson was, nor economic calamity, as Liz Truss was.

But there were parallels with the downfall of both Johnson and Truss: Sir Keir, like both of them, had lost the capacity to viably govern. When that happens to a prime minister, they are done for. All three lost the capacity to govern because their own MPs lost faith in them.

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And all three stood at the lectern in Downing Street within four years of each other. Theories abound about why our last five prime ministers have not lasted very long. To what extent is a stagnant economic picture, dating back to the financial crisis of nearly 20 years ago to blame?

What about the incessant noise of social media? The contributors to the outlook of so many Labour MPs about Sir Keir were multiple, building slowly and then exploding quickly. Image source, via Getty ImagesImage caption, Labour won a majority of more than 170 seats in July 2024 with Sir Keir as leader.

The cancellation of the winter fuel payment for many pensioners, announced shortly after Labour's general election win two years ago and eventually reversed, was one of many U-turns. Then there was the row over freebies, dubbed by some "passes for glasses". And within weeks of Labour taking office, dysfunction at the heart of Downing Street became public when we revealed a briefing war seeking to ensure the removal of Sir Keir's first chief of staff, Sue Gray.

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All of this happened in the first three months. Then, just over a year ago, a crucial moment: the prime minister's humiliating climbdown on his planned changes to the benefits system. It was the moment Labour MPs collectively realised they could push this government around and so amounted to a massive loss in authority for Downing Street.

And all of this before the rolling saga and acute embarrassment of the appointment of Lord Peter Mandelson as ambassador in Washington. Lord Mandelson was sacked in September but the row dogged the prime minister for month after month of what would turn out to be his remaining time in office. In the midst of it all, Morgan McSweeney , the man who had been at Sir Keir's side for his entire time in political leadership, both in opposition and government, resigned, as did yet another No 10 director of communications, Tim Allan.

Bubbling beneath all of this, firstly expressed privately and eventually publicly, was the growing discontent among Labour MPs about their leader.

The story has become one of the most prominent items on the global agenda.