Andy Burnham Becomes UK’s Seventh Prime Minister in a Decade

(WS News) – Andy Burnham was formally appointed as Britain’s prime minister on Monday after meeting King Charles III at Buckingham Palace, becoming the seventh person to hold the office in a decade following Keir Starmer’s resignation.

Starmer stepped down as Labour Party leader last month after a string of election defeats and a slide in poll ratings, clearing the way for Burnham, the former Greater Manchester mayor, to take over unopposed. Starmer delivered a farewell address outside 10 Downing Street on Monday morning before traveling to the palace to formally resign, citing falling immigration numbers, shorter National Health Service waiting times and reduced child poverty as highlights of his tenure.

Burnham, 56, followed Starmer to the palace, where King Charles asked him to form a new government. According to a palace statement, Burnham “accepted The King’s offer and kissed hands upon his appointment as Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury,” officially becoming the United Kingdom’s 59th prime minister. He was accompanied by his wife, Marie-France van Heel.

In his first speech outside Downing Street, delivered without a lectern, Burnham said he was “acutely conscious” of being the sixth person to walk up the famous street in ten years and pledged a “circuit breaker for Britain,” promising the country’s biggest changes in 40 years along with immediate help with the cost of living. He said a full ten-year plan would follow later in the year. Markets showed little reaction to the transition, with analysts noting that investors do not expect Burnham to significantly alter fiscal policy in the near term.