Andy Burnham, nicknamed the ‘King of the North,’ will become leader of Britain’s governing Labour Party on Friday, the final step before becoming its seventh prime minister in a decade on a pledge to thwart the rise of the populist Reform UK.
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At a ‘special conference’ on Friday, Burnham, who earned the regal moniker for his determination as mayor of Greater Manchester to defend the region’s interests, will be elected after gaining overwhelming support from Labour lawmakers.
The event is little more than a formality before he replaces Keir Starmer as Britain’s leader on Monday, when the party will be eager to find out his cabinet team and learn more about his approach to government.
Burnham, 56, will use his speech to press his message that his government will be “authentically Labour”, overseeing economic renewal, more public control, re-industrialization and putting power back in the hands of local communities.
He will promise to offer Britain “a new path to the one we’ve been on for the last 40 years” and his government will be “unashamedly Labour in our priorities and in the decisions we take, putting people and places at the heart of everything we do”, according to extracts of his speech.
But there is still much to learn about how Burnham will govern.
He has given one speech since returning to parliament last month after winning a parliamentary seat in Makerfield, the start of a four-week process to install him as prime minister and remove Starmer, whose unpopularity across Britain turned his lawmakers against him.