A look at the quick succession of British prime ministers in the past 10 years

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LONDON (AP) — When British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Monday he is stepping down, he became the sixth person to make a farewell speech in front of No. 10 Downing Street in a turbulent decade of U.K. politics.

Starmer had pledged to bring stability, grow the economy and end years of political chaos under the Conservative Party when he was elected in 2024 in a landslide victory for his Labour Party.

Barely two years later, Starmer was forced to step down after his popularity plummeted and his government struggled to deliver on his promise to “rebuild Britain.”

The rapid turnover in the past 10 years is a first in British modern political history. By contrast, the preceding four decades saw just six prime ministers.

A look at the quick succession of British prime ministers since 2016:

Cameron, who won an election majority in 2015, announced his resignation in June 2016 — a day after British voters voted to leave the European Union in a pivotal referendum that he had campaigned hard against.

It was Cameron who called the referendum in a bid to quell longstanding party quarrels over Britain's relationship with Europe.

May served from 2016 to May 2019, when she ended a failed three-year quest to lead Britain out of the European Union.

While May successfully struck a divorce deal with the EU, her fellow Conservative Party members refused to accept the deal. Her proposal was defeated three times in Parliament, rejected both by pro-EU opposition lawmakers and by Brexit-supporting Conservatives who thought it kept Britain too closely bound to the bloc.

“I have done my best,” May said at the time.

The charismatic and divisive Johnson oversaw Britain's exit from the EU and steered the country through the COVID-19 pandemic, but he was brought down after a series of ethics scandals tarnished his administration.

Johnson clung on to power even as allegations snowballed that he was too close to party donors, that he protected supporters from bullying and corruption allegations, and that he misled Parliament about government office parties that broke pandemic lockdown rules. He was eventually forced out after dozens of officials and his allies quit the government.

Truss, a libertarian who championed small government and free-market economics, became Britain's shortest-serving prime minister when she announced her resignation in October 2022, just six weeks after taking office.

Truss took the top job on a promise to shake up Britain's economy, but her ill-conceived stimulus plan, including drastic tax cuts, caused economic and political chaos and wiped out her support in the Conservative Party.

Sunak, Britain's youngest prime minister in some 200 years, secured support from his fellow Conservatives to take over from Truss in 2022. He vowed to reduce inflation, cut public healthcare backlogs and halt the flow of migrants entering the U.K. by illegal means.

Sunak was not able to lift the poll ratings for the Conservatives after the chaos brought by his predecessors. He called an early election for July 2024, and stepped down after his party suffered its biggest defeat in its two-century history.

“I am sorry," he said in a speech. “I take responsibility for this loss.”

Keir Starmer came to power after winning a landslide election victory in 2024, pledging to rebuild the economy and tattered public services and restore trust in politics. A former director of public prosecutions, Starmer was the first Labour Party prime minister Britain has seen in 14 years.

Close to two years later, after a series of policy missteps and party infighting, he acknowledged his party does not believe he is “best placed to lead us into the next general election.”