Andy Burnham due to take office as UK prime minister
Keir Starmer is expected to resign to King Charles III before Burnham is invited to form a government and speaks outside Downing Street.
By James Whitfield · Staff Writer
3 min read
Andy Burnham is due to become the United Kingdom’s next prime minister after Keir Starmer formally resigns to King Charles III, Al Jazeera reported from London. The transfer will put Burnham into office immediately, with attention already turning to his first Downing Street speech and the government he plans to assemble.
Al Jazeera reported that preparations were under way at 10 Downing Street on Monday morning, with removal vans seen over the weekend as the official residence was readied for Burnham’s arrival. Media crews had gathered outside the prime minister’s office ahead of the handover.
Under the expected sequence, Starmer will leave Downing Street and travel to Buckingham Palace to offer his resignation to the king, according to Al Jazeera. Burnham will then meet King Charles III privately, where the monarch will ask him to form a government.
That invitation is the point at which Burnham becomes prime minister, Al Jazeera reported. He is then expected to return to Downing Street for his first statement as head of government.
Immediate tasks
After taking office, Burnham is expected to name senior cabinet ministers, including the chancellor, foreign secretary and home secretary, Al Jazeera reported. The new administration takes power without a separate inauguration or a parliamentary confirmation vote.
Al Jazeera said early attention is likely to focus on Burnham’s domestic programme. Media reports cited by Al Jazeera said one of his first major decisions could involve placing Thames Water into a Special Administration Regime, a step that would put the company under temporary public control while it is restructured.
Burnham signalled a shift in approach in an interview with The Times published late Sunday. “What we’ve been doing hasn’t been working. That’s the way I see it,” he told the newspaper. “I am going to try and do things in a different way.”
Al Jazeera described Burnham as the UK’s seventh prime minister since 2016, taking office after years of political turnover. His first speech outside No 10 is expected to set out at least some of the priorities for his new government.
From Manchester to Downing Street
Burnham is closely associated with Manchester politics, but Al Jazeera reported that he was born in Liverpool and grew up in a village between the two northwest English cities. His father worked as a British Telecom engineer and his mother as a receptionist.
Al Jazeera reported that Burnham was raised in a Catholic family and has said Catholic teaching, along with the centre-left Labour Party, shaped his views on social justice. He told The Times that his father, who has Alzheimer’s, was not aware that he was becoming prime minister, calling it “a whole family achievement although he doesn’t know it.”
Burnham and his brothers were the first in their family to attend university, Al Jazeera reported. Burnham studied at Cambridge before working as a journalist at trade magazines and later as a researcher and adviser to Labour politicians.
He was elected to Parliament for Leigh in 2001 and served in senior roles under Labour prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, according to Al Jazeera. In Brown’s government, he held cabinet posts including chief secretary to the Treasury, culture secretary and health secretary.
After Labour lost power in 2010, Burnham twice ran unsuccessfully for the party leadership, Al Jazeera reported. He left Parliament in 2017 to run for mayor of Greater Manchester, the office that helped define his national profile before his move to Downing Street.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.