pledge to restore stability<\/a>.<\/p>\nStarmer said much the same when he took office two years ago. Last month, he announced he would resign after missteps and judgement errors that eroded his standing with his party and the public.<\/p>\n
Burnham was the only candidate in a contest to become the party\u2019s new leader, securing nominations from 379 of the 403 Labour lawmakers in the House of Commons.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Starmer will travel 1.6km from Downing St to Buckingham Palace to formally tell King Charles III that he’s resigning. Soon after, Burnham will go to the palace and Charles will ask him to form a government. He will officially become prime minister in a ceremony known as “kissing hands”.<\/p>\n
![\"Britain's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/britains-prime-minister-keir-starmer-speaks-to-the-media-out-GQYMBGZN45FWFPG2E76ZHI2QRM.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks to the media outside 10 Downing Street to announce his resignation in London, Monday, June 22, 2026. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
The king\u2019s role harkens back to a time when the monarch exercised supreme power and chose a prime minister to run the government. Today, the king has no political power, but the monarch still officially offers the job to the leader of the party that can command a majority in the House of Commons. No hand-kissing is involved.<\/p>\n
Britain\u2019s parliamentary democracy allows governing parties to change leaders, and thus prime ministers, without the need for a general election. The next national poll doesn\u2019t have to be held until 2029, though Burnham can call one sooner if he wants.<\/p>\n
Burnham will head from the palace to Downing St, where it\u2019s customary for new prime ministers to make a short speech outside the prime minister\u2019s residence.<\/p>\n
The former mayor of Greater Manchester has pledged to make politics “less toxic”, improve living standards across the country and “bring back the hope we have all been missing”.<\/p>\n
“I will work to build a new politics,” he said after becoming Labour leader. “The country is crying out for it.”<\/p>\n
![\"Andy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/andy-burnham-speaks-after-being-confirmed-as-the-labour-part-4UM6S4A55JEHZJAZUOGVAA52K4.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Andy Burnham speaks after being confirmed as the Labour Party’s new leader and the country’s next prime minister, during ‘Labour’s Special Conference’ in central London, Friday July 17, 2026. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
Critics and supporters alike will soon be clamouring for details of how Burnham plans to fulfil his pledges.<\/p>\n
“Fundamentally, it only will work if you can generate significant economic growth, because it\u2019s the lack of growth that\u2019s really holding the country back,” said Joshi Herrmann, who has followed Burnham\u2019s career as founder of Manchester news site The Mill.<\/p>\n
Attention will quickly turn to who Burnham will appoint to his Cabinet. He’s expected to make changes to Starmer\u2019s top team, especially to the biggest jobs of Treasury chief, foreign secretary and home secretary.<\/p>\n
He said ON Saturday that he hadn\u2019t made a final decision about who to install in his Cabinet.<\/p>\n
In his first speech as Labour leader, Burnham praised Starmer\u2019s achievements, saying he would “build on the foundation laid” by his predecessor.<\/p>\n
Starmer became Labour leader in 2020 after the party\u2019s worst-ever election loss, and led it to a landslide victory four years later. But he was soon defeated by the challenges of governing.<\/p>\n
At his final Prime Minister\u2019s Questions session in Parliament on Wednesday, Starmer defended his government\u2019s record on the international stage \u2014 especially its support for Ukraine \u2014 and its domestic policy achievements. He mentioned stronger protections for working people, a reduction in child poverty, a law designed to stop official cover-ups after tragedies, and higher defence spending.<\/p>\n
“I am proud to leave this country in a better shape than I found it,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The moment for Andy Burnham has finally come. After weeks as UK prime minister-in-waiting, Burnham will take office…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":535175,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,6747,40,38,41,39,1745],"class_list":["post-535174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-royalty","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-uk-europe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=535174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/535175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=535174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=535174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=535174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}