Andy Burnham Becomes U.K. Prime Minister, Succeeding Keir Starmer

Andy Burnham became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on Monday, taking over from Keir Starmer in a handover choreographed around a visit to Buckingham Palace, where Starmer formally resigned and King Charles III then invited Burnham to form a government.

Before heading to the Palace, Starmer delivered a farewell address outside 10 Downing Street, flanked by colleagues and staff who greeted him with cheers and applause. He framed his six and a half years leading the Labour Party and two as Prime Minister around the 2024 landslide election win, pointing to falling immigration numbers, shorter National Health Service waiting times and children lifted out of poverty as markers of his record. He said the job’s most humbling aspect was witnessing everyday “grit, decency, and compassion” across the country, and closed by wishing Burnham “every success,” pledging him “full support” before thanking his family, staff and the wider Labour Party.

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“My work is done,” Starmer said. “It has been the privilege of my life to serve you and this great country, as Prime Minister, and I am confident that Britain is now stronger and fairer than it was two years ago.”

Starmer’s final days in office brought a run of international recognition. On July 14, French President Emmanuel Macron awarded him the Legion of Honor for his work with France on European security. Two days later, on a final visit to Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy presented him with the Order of Freedom, Ukraine’s highest honor for a foreign national, citing his support for the country throughout the war with Russia.

“I go with good grace, I go with a smile, and I go proud of everything that we have achieved,” Starmer said.

Burnham, the former mayor of Greater Manchester, had been confirmed as Labour leader unopposed on July 17, after securing nominations from 379 of the party’s 403 MPs. His confirmation capped a five-week run from his return to Parliament via a by-election win in Makerfield to his installation as the country’s seventh prime minister in a decade.

Burnham was the only declared candidate in the leadership contest, which followed a rebellion among Labour lawmakers against Starmer.

After Starmer formally resigned as Prime Minister at Buckingham Palace, Burnham followed him and met King Charles III. He has formally become the U.K.’s 59th Prime Minister.

A statement from Buckingham Palace said: “His Majesty received in audience the Rt Hon Andrew Burnham MP and requested him to form a new Administration. The Rt Hon Andrew Burnham MP accepted The King’s offer and kissed hands upon his appointment as Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury.”

Burnham then delivered his own address outside No. 10, breaking with tradition by speaking without a lectern. Noting he was “the sixth person in the last 10 years to walk up this street” and the seventh Prime Minister since 2016, he called the moment one for “reflection and new resolution,” saying Britain needs to “regain our stability once again.” He pledged what he called the biggest changes in 40 years – “a new political model and a new economic model” – pointing to deindustrialization since the 1980s as a wrong turn he intends to reverse through greater public control of “life’s essentials” and public procurement to back British industry.

Burnham said a full 10-year plan for Britain would follow later this year, but that cost-of-living measures would begin “starting tomorrow.” He also named ending rough sleeping as his first instruction to civil servants once back inside Downing Street.

“I will put the care of people at the heart of everything I do. I will give this my all, and I ask you all to pull with me. Let’s build a new national sense of unity, of common purpose, and positivity. Let us make this the moment when Britain starts to believe again — the moment we bring back hope,” Burnham concluded.