Andy Burnham becomes Britain’s prime minister, pledging to ‘rewire’ country

LONDON: Andy Burnham is set to become Britain’s seventh prime minister in a decade on Monday, taking office after Keir Starmer delivers a farewell statement outside 10 Downing Street and formally submits his resignation to King Charles. Burnham, the former mayor of Greater Manchester who has been nicknamed the ‘King of the North’, will then meet the monarch to be appointed prime minister.

Burnham, 56, is assuming office with a wide range of challenges ahead, including weak economic growth and struggling utilities. One of his first tasks will be to announce his ministerial team, a process that has already prompted intense discussion within the governing Labour Party.

Burnham promises major political shift

Burnham has described his election as Labour leader as a turning point in British politics and said his government would seek to raise living standards quickly by overhauling the country’s political direction. Speaking on Friday, he said his administration would begin setting out that course next week while offering what he said was the hope and change the country needed.

He told Labour lawmakers after returning to parliament last month that he was among the few figures in the party seen as capable of countering the political challenge posed by Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party, a threat many in Labour believed Starmer was struggling to contain.

Addressing the debate over senior appointments, Burnham urged his party on Friday to disregard what he called speculation and said he had not yet finalised his team.