June 23, 2016 — the date of the Brexit referendum — remains a seismic moment in the UK’s political history. But the roots of the country’s long period of political instability, which claimed its latest prime ministerial victim on Monday, run even deeper.

Keir Starmer’s resignation means he will, remarkably, become the fourth prime minister to leave office in the last four years. His successor will become the seventh premier since the 2016 referendum after David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak and Starmer.

The origins of this uncertainty extend back to at least the 2007-2009 financial crisis, an event from which the economy still has not fully recovered. Indeed, one of the defining features of the current UK landscape is that, as of the end of 2023, the country’s real per capita gross domestic product was estimated to be about 28 percent below what the trend growth of 1955 to 2008 would have predicted before the financial crisis.

Starmer will remain prime minister until at least mid-July, when nominations will close for Labour MPs to express an interest in becoming leader. Before he leaves office, he wants to try to enhance his political legacy as premier, including at the upcoming NATO Summit in Turkiye. Before then, Starmer still hopes to announce the new UK........

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