The moment for Andy Burnham has finally come.
After weeks as UK prime minister-in-waiting, Burnham will take office on Monday, succeeding the departing Keir Starmer, and Britain’s political turbulence will give way, at least temporarily, to smooth choreography.
Burnham will become the seventh UK prime minister since 2016 in a now well-rehearsed handover after replacing Starmer as leader of the centre-left governing Labour Party on Friday.
A spokesperson said Burnham will say in his first speech as prime minister he’s “acutely aware” of how many changes of leader the country has been through in the past decade, and will pledge to restore stability.
Starmer said much the same when he took office two years ago. Last month he announced he would resign after missteps and judgment errors that eroded his standing with his party and the public.
Burnham was the only candidate in a contest to become the party’s new leader, securing nominations from 379 of the 403 Labour lawmakers in the House of Commons.
On Monday Starmer will travel the mile from Downing Street to Buckingham Palace to formally tell King Charles III that he’s resigning. Soon after, Burnham will go to the palace and Charles will ask him to form a government. He will officially become prime minister in a ceremony known as “kissing hands.”
The king’s role harkens back to a time when the monarch exercised supreme power and chose a prime minister to run the government. Today, the king has no political power, but the monarch still officially offers the job to the leader of the party that can command a majority in the House of Commons. No hand-kissing is involved.
Britain’s parliamentary democracy allows governing parties to change leaders, and thus prime ministers, without the need for a general election. The next national poll doesn’t have to be held until 2029, though Burnham can call one sooner if he wants.
Burnham will head from the palace to Downing Street, where it’s customary for new prime ministers to make a short speech outside the prime minister’s residence.
The former mayor of Greater Manchester has pledged to make politics “less toxic,” improve living standards across the country and “bring back the hope we have all been missing.”
“I will work to build a new politics,” he said after becoming Labour leader on Friday. “The country is crying out for it.”
Critics and supporters alike will soon be clamoring for details of how Burnham plans to fulfill his pledges.
“Fundamentally, it only will work if you can generate significant economic growth, because it’s the lack of growth that’s really holding the country back,” said Joshi Herrmann, who has followed Burnham’s career as founder of Manchester news site The Mill.
Attention will quickly turn to who Burnham will appoint to his Cabinet. He’s expected to make changes to Starmer’s top team, especially to the biggest jobs of Treasury chief, foreign secretary and home secretary.
He said Friday that he hadn’t made a final decision about who to install in his Cabinet.
In his first speech as Labour leader, Burnham praised Starmer’s achievements, saying he would “build on the foundation laid” by his predecessor.
Starmer became Labour leader in 2020 after the party’s worst-ever election loss, and led it to a landslide victory four years later. But he was soon defeated by the challenges of governing.
At his final Prime Minister’s Questions session in Parliament on Wednesday, Starmer defended his government’s record on the international stage — especially its support for Ukraine — and its domestic policy achievements. He mentioned stronger protections for working people, a reduction in child poverty, a law designed to stop official cover-ups after tragedies, and higher defense spending.
“I am proud to leave this country in a better shape than I found it,” he said.
