{"id":536042,"date":"2026-07-21T01:11:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T01:11:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/536042\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T01:11:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T01:11:18","slug":"andy-burnham-becomes-the-uks-seventh-prime-minister-in-a-decade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/536042\/","title":{"rendered":"Andy Burnham becomes the UK’s seventh prime minister in a decade"},"content":{"rendered":"

Andy Burnham<\/a> took office Tuesday as Britain\u2019s new prime minister, promising a 10-year plan to restore political stability and revive the economy while acknowledging that six other UK leaders have tried and failed to do<\/a> so in the past decade<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Speaking outside 10 Downing St. minutes after being formally appointed by King Charles III, Burnham pledged to ease the cost of living for ordinary people, decentralise political power, revitalise industry and end street sleeping by homeless people. He said he would deliver a “circuit breaker” for a system that has taken wrong turns since the 1980s, when public services and utilities were privatized and local government eroded.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will take power out of here and carry it into every postcode in the land so that they can do more and in doing more, build a new economy where we put life\u2019s essentials back under stronger public control to make them affordable to you again,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Britain's<\/p>\n

Britain’s new Prime Minister Andy Burnham speaks to staff and media at 10 Downing Street in London, Monday, July 20, 2026. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Burnham said he was \u201cacutely conscious\u201d of the political revolving door he was walking through.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a moment for reflection and new resolution,\u201d he said. \u201cIt requires my generation of politicians to raise our game and rise to the new challenge. Britain needs to show the world that we can regain our stability once again, and that is our challenge to make politics work, to make it work better.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of Burnham’s biggest tasks on his first day was to appoint a Cabinet. The key post of chancellor of the exchequer went to John Healey, the former defense secretary who quit the previous government a few weeks ago over funding plans for his department. His appointment as Treasury chief was a surprise.<\/p>\n

\"John<\/p>\n

John Healey arrives for a cabinet meeting in London, Monday, July 20, 2026. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Healey replaces Rachel Reeves, the architect of much of the economic agenda of Burnham\u2019s predecessor, Keir Starmer, as well as some of the missteps that ate away at his support. Others leaving the Cabinet included David Lammy, who was deputy prime minister.<\/p>\n

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband was given the role of foreign secretary. He replaces Yvette Cooper, who has not yet been appointed to a new post. Shabana Mahmood remains as home secretary.<\/p>\n

Further announcements were expected through the evening, before the full Cabinet meets Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Party changed leaders in midterm<\/p>\n

Burnham became the seventh UK prime minister since 2016 in a now well-rehearsed handover after replacing Starmer<\/a> as leader of the centre-left governing Labour Party on Friday. Starmer announced last month<\/a> he would resign.<\/p>\n

\"Britain's<\/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

Starmer left office just two years after winning a landslide election victory, forced out by his own party after a series of missteps and U-turns.<\/p>\n

Britain\u2019s parliamentary democracy allows governing parties to change leaders, and thus prime ministers, without the need for a general election<\/a>. The next national poll does not have to be held until 2029, though Burnham can call one sooner if he wants.<\/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

He will confront many of the same struggles as his predecessor: a sluggish economy, a cost-of-living crisis, overstretched public services, concerns about migration and foreign affairs that include wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.<\/p>\n

He will also try to navigate relations with US President Donald Trump, who first warmed to, then soured on, Starmer. Burnham’s office said the prime minister spoke to Trump on Monday afternoon and “underlined his commitment to defence and security”.<\/p>\n

The new leader pledges a new style of politics<\/p>\n

The former mayor of Greater Manchester previously pledged to make politics “less toxic,” improve living standards across the country and “bring back the hope we have all been missing”.<\/p>\n

Burnham said he will set out a 10-year plan for Britain later this year. Before that, he will lay out first steps \u201cto give people some breathing space now, some help with the cost of living.”<\/p>\n

\"Britain's<\/p>\n

Britain’s new Prime Minister Andy Burnham speaks to staff and media at 10 Downing Street in London. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n

“And I will set out some of those measures starting tomorrow, including how we pay for them,” he said.<\/p>\n

After his speech, he told reporters that he has \u201calways taken a very prudent approach\u201d to the economy in previous jobs, and will not take any economic risks now.<\/p>\n

Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London, said Labour had backed Burnham “to inject a sense of positivity, of hope, of purpose, a sense of direction”. <\/p>\n

Burnham says “he is going to mark a big break, not just with Keir Starmer, but also with what he regards as four decades of the country going in the wrong direction,” Bale said. \u201cBut quite what that means in terms of concrete policies, in terms how much he\u2019s going to spend and on what, and how much is going to tax… we\u2019re not sure yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Starmer exits early but says his job was done<\/p>\n

In the rapid-fire world of British political transitions, Burnham entered Downing Street only minutes after Starmer left.<\/p>\n

“I go with good grace. I go with a smile, and I go proud of everything that we have achieved,” Starmer said before heading to Buckingham Palace to offer his resignation to the king. It was an offer the king “was graciously pleased to accept,” the palace said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Starmer became Labour leader in 2020 after one of the party’s worst election defeats, and he led Labour to a landslide victory four years later. But he was soon defeated by the challenges of governing.<\/p>\n

“It has been the privilege of my life to serve you and this great country as prime minister,” Starmer said before leaving Downing Street, hand-in-hand with his wife, Victoria. “I am confident that Britain is now stronger and fairer than it was two years ago.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andy Burnham took office Tuesday as Britain\u2019s new prime minister, promising a 10-year plan to restore political stability…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":536043,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39,1745],"class_list":["post-536042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","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\/536042","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=536042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/536043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=536042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=536042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=536042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}