{"id":85199,"date":"2026-07-17T22:25:26","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T22:25:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/85199\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T22:25:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T22:25:26","slug":"andy-burnham-set-to-become-britains-prime-minister-after-being-named-labour-party-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/85199\/","title":{"rendered":"Andy Burnham set to become Britain\u2019s prime minister after being named Labour Party Leader"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Newly confirmed Labour Party leader Andy Burnham speaks with local stakeholders and party supporters during a visit to Gravesend Town Pier, England, Friday.Gareth Fuller\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

Former Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham is set to become Britain\u2019s seventh prime minister in 10 years on Monday, but he\u2019s not well known in Britain or abroad and has yet to outline his domestic or foreign policy.<\/p>\n

Mr. Burnham was acclaimed as leader of the Labour Party on Friday, replacing Keir Starmer, who announced his resignation as leader and prime minister last month. Mr. Burnham will head to Buckingham Palace on Monday to be sworn in as prime minister by King Charles III. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat a moment,\u201d Mr. Burnham told a group of supporters on Friday after formally being declared party leader at a Labour conference in London.<\/p>\n

Mr. Burnham promised to pull the party back to its traditional roots and address the challenges that have held the country back since the Margaret Thatcher era. <\/p>\n

\u201cFour decades of the neoliberalism that began in the 1980s have not been kind to the places that built our party, nor to the communities across the U.K.,\u201d he said. He added that \u201cthis change today is the most significant change moment in our politics for 40 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also addressed critics who have said that his coronation as leader has come without any detailed policy ideas. \u201cYou can be sure of this. I know what I believe after 25 years as an elected Labour representative. And I know what I want to do, working with you all. I have a plan,\u201d he said as the song True Faith by Manchester\u2019s New Order rang out. <\/p>\n

Mr. Burnham\u2019s rise to power, and Mr. Starmer\u2019s fall, have been astonishingly fast. <\/p>\n

Just two years ago, Mr. Starmer led Labour to a landslide victory in the general election and seemed set to govern for years. But his government quickly floundered and many policies proved unpopular. Compounding his troubles were the country\u2019s stagnant economy and weak public finances. <\/p>\n

As Labour fell further behind Reform UK in public support, backbench MPs began agitating for change. The party\u2019s disastrous showing in local elections last May was the last straw and around 100 Labour MPs demanded Mr. Starmer resign. <\/p>\n

Mr. Burnham, 56, emerged as the only real contender and his star-power status among MPs increased after he won a by-election in June, defeating the Reform candidate by a wide margin. Within days, Mr. Starmer announced his departure and the party rallied around the Manchester mayor. <\/p>\n

A look at the six prime ministers the U.K. has had in the past 10 years<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr. Burnham has some experience in government. He served as an MP from 2001 to 2017 and held a couple of cabinet posts under prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He left Parliament in 2017 and was elected mayor of Greater Manchester with 60 per cent of the vote. He was re-elected in 2021 by an even larger margin.<\/p>\n

He won accolades as mayor for improving Manchester\u2019s bus service after bringing it under public ownership. But he has yet to outline exactly what he plans to do as prime minister. And he only has three years before the next election must be held.<\/p>\n

Mr. Burnham has talked in vague terms about handing more power to regions, increasing public control of key utilities, tightening immigration and reforming social benefits. <\/p>\n

He has also said little about foreign policy or how he would handle U.S. President Donald Trump, who has had a tumultuous relationship with Mr. Starmer. (Nor has he addressed Canada or Prime Minister Mark Carney in any capacity.)<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Andy Burnham hugs his wife Marie-France van Heel as he is confirmed as the Labour Party’s new leader and Britain’s next prime minister.Henry Nicholls\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

The lack of specifics has concerned some Labour MPs. \u201cAndy hasn\u2019t told us what he\u2019s going to do,\u201d veteran Labour MP Graham Stringer told BBC on Friday. \u201cHe\u2019s not explained any plan, or any details, about policy on immigration, the economy, energy, a whole series of major policies are still a mystery.\u201d<\/p>\n

Opposition parties have also zeroed in on his lack of detail. \u201cI listened to Andy Burnham\u2019s speech. I wish I hadn\u2019t. Twenty minutes of vacuous twaddle. No change. No specifics. No plan whatsoever,\u201d said Reform MP Robert Jenrick in a statement. <\/p>\n

Another key question surrounding the incoming prime minister is who he will appoint as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Rachel Reeves, who has served in that post under Mr. Starmer, has been criticized for her handling of the economy.<\/p>\n

\u2018This is the end of my political journey,\u2019 Starmer says, at final question session as U.K. leader<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr. Burnham said on Friday that he has yet to make any decisions about cabinet appointments. But a leading contender for Chancellor is Shabana Mahmood, the current Home Secretary. Although she has little financial experience, Ms. Mahmood is considered a steady hand who would be acceptable to the businesses community. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s far from clear that Mr. Burnham will have any more success than Mr. Starmer. Britain\u2019s economic growth has been flat and there\u2019s little fiscal room for big spending initiatives.<\/p>\n

The extent to which his policies \u201cwill lift potential growth over time is open to question and will depend on the details,\u201d Michael Saunders, a senior economic adviser at Oxford Economics wrote in a report this week. \u201cBut in any case, it\u2019s unlikely they\u2019ll significantly lift growth in the next two to three years.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Newly confirmed Labour Party leader Andy Burnham speaks with local stakeholders and party…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85200,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[5564,5555,5420,345,5547,13,5565,1193,5546,5560,5561,5557,5548,5545,254,28,528,5559,5553,5576,5549,5550,181,5556,424,2441,5566,5551,5571,5572,5574,5569,5573,5567,5570,2843,5562,5563,14,654,5568,5554,1426,104,5558,5552,46,5575],"class_list":["post-85199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-britain","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-britain","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}