A decade of chaos: Britain prepares for 7th prime minister after Starmer announces resignation

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday he would quit, paving the way for the country to have its seventh leader in 10 years. The chaos dates back to the Brexit referendum, 10 years ago to the day on Tuesday. In the years since the vote, Britain has tried to forge its own path but struggled to boost its low-growth economy, hamstrung by high debts and a growing welfare bill, at a time of growing geopolitical volatility. June 2016: UK votes for Brexit, PM Cameron quits Britons cause a global shock by voting 52-48 per cent to leave the European Union, ending a more than 40-year union and plunging the country into its biggest political crisis since World War Two. Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron resigns and the party chooses Theresa May to succeed him. June 2017: Snap election gamble backfires Riding high in opinion polls and seeking a bigger majority in parliament to push Brexit legislation through, May calls a snap election. The Conservatives lose their majority and form a government by striking a deal with Northern Ireland’s pro-UK Democratic Unionist Party. May 2019: Brexit paralysis, May resigns, Johnson takes over May quits after failing to break a parliamentary deadlock over how Britain should leave the EU. Boris Johnson, one of the main faces of the pro-Brexit campaign, wins the internal Conservative Party contest to succeed her. December 2019: Johnson leads conservatives to sweeping win With parliament paralysed over Brexit, Johnson calls a snap election. Campaigning under the slogan “Get Brexit Done” he steers the Conservatives to their biggest election win since Margaret Thatcher’s landslide victory in 1987. January 2020: Brexit gets done Johnson uses his mandate to drive a Brexit deal through parliament and Brussels, and Britain exits the EU on January 31, 2020, becoming the first state to withdraw from the bloc. July 2022: Johnson ousted Johnson leads Britain during the Covid-19 pandemic — at one point being hospitalised himself with the