Burnham becomes UK prime minister after meeting king

Britain’s King Charles III on Monday appointed Andy Burnham as prime minister after outgoing Keir Starmer officially tendered his resignation, the palace said.

“Andrew Burnham MP accepted The King’s offer and kissed hands upon his appointment as Prime Minister,” Buckingham Palace said in a statement, adding the king had asked him to form the next government.

Burnham became Britain’s sixth prime minister to move into Downing Street since 2016, with an in-tray overflowing with challenges and little time to make his mark.

The new leader takes over from the unpopular Keir Starmer just two years after the outgoing prime minister led Labour party to power in a landslide election victory after 14 years of Conservative rule.

After being asked by King Charles III to form the next government, Burnham, 56, is due to make his first speech Monday outside 10 Downing Street shortly after Starmer said his farewells.

In an interview with The Times published late on Sunday, Burnham set out his ambition for change, saying he wanted to draw a line under a decade of political turmoil.

“What we’ve been doing hasn’t been working. That’s the way I see it,” he said.

“I am going to try and do things in a different way.”

In his first speech, he will acknowledge he feels “acutely conscious” of the need for a more stable brand of politics, as he becomes the sixth new prime minister in the last 10 years.

Burnham will set out “priorities for restoring confidence in government and giving Britain more breathing room” amid the cost-of-living crisis, his team said.

Delivering growth and devolving power to regional communities are also expected to feature in his speech.

An announcement on his senior cabinet appointments was also expected on Monday with all eyes on who will replace Rachel Reeves as finance minister.

The former mayor of Greater Manchester, nicknamed the “King of the North”, has been parachuted in by the Labour Party, after Starmer resigned last month, with MPs viewing him as the party’s best chance of reining in Nigel Farage’s anti-immigration Reform UK party.

‘Bigger, bolder’

Deputy Labour Party leader Lucy Powell said Sunday Burnham’s mayoral experience away from the London centre of government meant he understood the “bigger, bolder measures” needed to deliver on Labour’s election manifesto promises.

Among Burnham’s most urgent challenges will be a tepid economy, high government borrowing costs, a ballooning welfare bill and irregular migrants arriving in small boats that have fuelled support for Reform.

Unpredictable energy prices due to the US-Iran war and a volatile American president in Donald Trump also threaten to buffet his premiership.

Burnham told The Times he would take a “different approach to public spending, and to running the economy — more focused on early investment, early intervention, setting people up for success, and much less paying for failure.”

He promised “early moves to help” with the cost of living, saying that while campaigning he heard the “pressure people feel around their finances”.

Starmer announced that he would resign as prime minister and Labour Party leader in late June after a string of scandals, missteps and policy U-turns blighted his leadership.

But Burnham, who only returned as a member of parliament four weeks ago, has little room to manoeuvre amid sluggish economic growth, high public debt and strict financial rules requiring him to balance government spending against tax revenue.

‘Last chance’

Burnham was an MP between 2001 and 2017, serving as a minister for the governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

He has since reinvented himself as a man of the people, melding a relaxed, folksy style with slick social media videos.

But he has only three years to turn things around, with Reform tipped in polls to win the next general election expected in 2029.

Burnham told supporters on Friday his Labour takeover was the “last chance” for the party to get things right.

Critics have accused Starmer’s government of being under-prepared for power when he was elected in July 2024.

Burnham has insisted he has a “plan”.

But his swift “coronation” as Labour leader has raised questions on how he will achieve his aims.

His first policy announcement came on Saturday when he scrapped Starmer’s flagship nationwide digital ID scheme, estimated to cost £1.8 billion over three years.

A spokesperson said the time and resources would be diverted “to where it’s most needed, such as helping with the cost of living”. ...