Burnham picks Healey as chancellor on first day as UK PM – POLITICO

LONDON — Britain got (another) new prime minister Monday: Andy Burnham.

The former mayor of Greater Manchester — who succeeded Keir Starmer as leader of the U.K.’s governing Labour Party last week — began naming his top team after King Charles III asked him to form a government.

Former Defense Secretary John Healey has been named chancellor, Britain’s top finance minister — after a host of Starmer allies were cleared out. Ed Miliband, a former Labour Party leader, is foreign secretary. Shabana Mahmood stays on as home secretary.

Burnham is Britain’s sixth prime minister in the past decade alone, and his appointment comes as the governing Labour Party gambles that another change at the top will turn around a polling deficit to right-wing populist Nigel Farage.

In Burnham’s first speech in the job — delivered without notes or the customary lectern that previous new prime ministers have used — he promised action on the cost of living within days, and a 10-year plan for government to follow later in the year.

He said he would immediately order officials to work to end homelessness in the U.K. — and he’s held his first call with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Catch up on how the day unfolded below — and brush up on Burnham with these primers:

• Andy Burnham’s long general election campaign starts now
• He quit Parliament. Now he’s set to become Britain’s prime minister.
• Burnham eyes a casual version of the U.K.-U.S. special relationship