Monday briefing: What’s next for no-drama Starmer as his ‘political challenges’ pile up?

Good morning. Today’s the day, probably. Keir Starmer is expected to announce that he will step down as prime minister, after overwhelming pressure from Labour MPs to make way for Andy Burnham to become party leader. This follows the Manchester mayor’s emphatic victory in last Thursday’s Makerfield byelection , where he leveraged his popularity and the prevailing anti-Starmer mood to secure more votes than Reform and Restore combined, cementing his credentials as the man who can take on the hard right in the next general election. I spoke to senior political correspondent, Peter Walker , about how the coming days and weeks may unfold for the Labour government, and pondered how “no-drama Starmer” ended up the most unpopular prime minister in memory (and lord knows, we’ve had plenty of them). Weekend roundup Middle East | High-stakes talks between the US and Iran are expected to continue for the rest of the week in Switzerland, after a tense start that saw Iranian negotiators walk out in protest at a stream of threats issued by Donald Trump on social media. Edinburgh | Police Scotland said a man was charged after a series of attacks in Edinburgh on Friday night that are being treated as potential anti-Muslim hate crimes. Counter-terrorism officers were brought in to investigate the attacks in which five people were injured. …