Digested week: Another PM bites the dust and it’s surprisingly moving | John Crace

Keir dashed out moments after the lectern was in place. Almost as if he wanted to get the speech over and done with with as few people watching as possible. Photograph: Tayfun Salcı/Zuma Press Wire/Shutterstock View image in fullscreen Keir dashed out moments after the lectern was in place. Almost as if he wanted to get the speech over and done with with as few people watching as possible. Photograph: Tayfun Salcı/Zuma Press Wire/Shutterstock Digested week: Another PM bites the dust and it’s surprisingly moving John Crace Plus, World Cup fever, EU referendum 10th anniversary, feeling the heat in Westminster and cancer Monday Hard to believe, but in my 12 and a half years as the Guardian’s political sketch writer, I am about to embark on my seventh prime minister. There was a time when we Britons took the piss out of the Italians for their rapid turnover of prime ministers. Now the laugh is on us. When I first started in the lobby in 2014 there had been only four prime ministers in the previous 23 years. We’ve now churned through four in four years. The lineup of former prime ministers at the Cenotaph parade on Remembrance Day gets longer and longer. In a decade or so there will only be a handful of people who can recognise Liz Truss. Keir Starmer’s resignation was slightly different from the others. He wasn’t being forced out as a result of a lost election or by a strong opposition. His departure had nothing to do with the Tories and was triggered by Labour winning a byelection. There was also something quite bashful about his resignation speech. Normally broadcasters and other media are given a heads-up when the prime minister is due to speak, with the lectern brought out on to Downing Street half an hour before. This time, though we all knew it was coming, Keir dashed out moments after the lectern was in place. Almost as if he wanted to get the speech over and done with, with as few people watching as possible. Like almost every resignation speech , Keir’s was surprisingly moving. There’s something about witnessing the passing of power, the moment when the politics becomes personal that touches me every time. Maybe it’s me that’s the softie. The one exception was Boris Johnson’s resignation speech. The one in which he accepted responsibility for nothing, blamed others for his departure, and told the country we would all regret it. Oddly, we haven’t. You can’t help wondering just how long the country will give Andy Burnham. Voters have become increasingly unforgiving if promises aren’t delivered immediately. It feels only a matter of weeks before some broadcasters start shouting: “When are you going to resign, Mr Burnham?” Tuesday View image in fullscreen Harry Kane celebrates Jude Bellingham’s goal in the England v Croatia match. Photograph: Dave Shopland/Shutterstock It had to happen. Of course it did. How could it not? Two weeks ago, I wrote of my disengagement with the World Cup . How I hadn’t been bothered to watch the opening few matches a