Former Mayor of Manchester Andy Burnham is Britain’s Next Prime Minister
Andy Burnham, a left-leaning former mayor of Manchester, has been elected leader of the United Kingdom’s governing Labour Party, putting him in line to become prime minister in the coming days.
Burnham promised to restore hope to the country as he was confirmed as the party head on Friday. He will be appointed PM on Monday, replacing outgoing premier Keir Starmer, and has promised to unite the country and fight off the challenge from the populist and far-right Reform UK.
He will enter 10 Downing Street on Monday, capping a long career in politics. During his first stint in Westminster from 2001-2017, he served in both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown’s cabinets, eventually becoming health secretary and twice unsuccessfully running for the Labour leadership.
Shortly after his second attempt, he returned to the northwest of England, where he is from, and ran for the newly created Manchester mayorship in 2017.
At a special party conference that confirmed his leadership, the PM-in-waiting said he was ready for power and would work to offer hope to people in “forgotten places everywhere”.
In his acceptance speech, Burnham pledged to give people “hope back” and challenge a political culture and economic model he said “simply doesn’t work well enough for ordinary people.”
Although official confirmation of Burnham’s ascension only came on Friday, he has, in reality, been the party’s leader-in-waiting since he won a crucial by-election last month, allowing him to return to parliament and challenge Starmer.
“We are united, and we put the power that comes from that unity at the service of people and places who have been waiting too long for politics to let them hope again,” he told the room full of Labour MPs and party officials, the AFP news agency reported. “And that’s what we’re going to do, everybody, we’re going to give them hope back.”
Burnham also paid tribute to Starmer, whom he unseated as allies and critics alike accused the outgoing prime minister of a lack of leadership, just two years after securing a landslide general election victory.
Support for Starmer dived amid numerous difficult events, including wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, and a relentless cost of living crisis. He also failed to stem the growing popularity of Reform and other far-right populists in the polls.
All of those issues will be in Burnham’s in-tray as he becomes prime minister on Monday, but it was the challenge from Reform that sat at the top of his agenda as he spoke as the new Labour leader.
Addressing the populist threat directly in his leadership acceptance speech, Burnham said.
“We won’t try to out-Green the Greens or out-Reform Reform or do what we’ve done in the past, wearing too many Tory clothes,” he declared. “From here we do it differently. We win by being us boldly, confidently, authentically us – Labour.”
To mend internal party fractures following Starmer’s exit, Burnham promised to govern through a “broad church” cabinet that respects all factions of the movement.
He pledged to establish a “team and culture where everyone is valued, seen and listened to,” reassuring party colleagues that his upcoming front bench appointments would fairly reflect “contribution, experience and commitment”.
Burnham promised to place the cost of living crisis “front and centre of government,” arguing that the UK had historically surrendered control of crucial sectors like housing, energy and water. He also touted his credentials as a “pro-business” prime minister.
Reflecting his tenure as mayor of Greater Manchester, where he fought centralised control to build integrated local transit and housing systems, Burnham pledged to shift power away from central government, promising the “biggest rebalancing” in modern British history.
“We will take power back from Westminster and Whitehall and give it to the place where you live,” he said.