{"id":702532,"date":"2026-07-21T01:05:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T01:05:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/702532\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T01:05:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T01:05:15","slug":"andy-burnham-becomes-new-british-prime-minister-keir-starmer-leaves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/702532\/","title":{"rendered":"Andy Burnham becomes new British prime minister, Keir Starmer leaves"},"content":{"rendered":"

LONDON \u2014 Over to you, Andy Burnham<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The man dubbed the \u201cKing of the North\u201d became the new British prime minister Monday, the latest in a revolving door of leaders<\/a> trying to halt a decade of political turbulence and economic stagnation in the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n

Burnham, 56, was appointed unchallenged<\/a> after the unpopular Keir Starmer agreed to step down<\/a> last month following a series of election defeats, U-turns and scandals.<\/p>\n

Both Starmer and Burnham come from the same center-left Labour Party, and in the United Kingdom ruling parties can change leaders \u2014 and therefore the prime minister \u2014 in the middle of an election cycle without anyone voting.<\/p>\n

That said, Burnham has promised radical change after taking office following a morning of royal formality, though he already faces infighting over his Cabinet selections. <\/p>\n

Burnham reappointed \u200cShabana Mahmood as \u200binterior \u200cminister, but he moved several members of Starmer\u2019s team out of their roles. Former Labour leader Ed Miliband was appointed as foreign minister in place of Yvette Cooper and John Healey became finance minister. <\/p>\n

Healey, the former defense minister, helped to trigger the departure of Starmer by accusing him of failing to spend enough money on keeping the country safe. <\/p>\n

\"AndyKing Charles III welcomes Andy Burnham during an audience at Buckingham Palace on Monday.Aaron Chown \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

Making his first speech as prime minister outside No. 10 Downing St., Burnham vowed a \u201ccircuit breaker for Britain\u201d that would involve \u201cthe biggest changes of the past 40 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

In keeping with the more casual style he\u2019s sought to project, Burnham eschewed the lectern favored by his predecessors, instead speaking while standing freely in the famous street.<\/p>\n

He said that later this year he would announce a \u201c10-year plan\u201d for Britain, but also that he would be doing things \u201cto give people some breathing space now,\u201d including \u201csome help with the cost of living,\u201d he said. His first \u201cinstruction,\u201d Burnham said, would be to \u201cend rough sleeping in our country.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said, \u201cI know people at home are fed up with politics. I hear you and I want to be honest with you \u2014 we have not been good enough and we need to be better.\u201d<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump said he a good call with Burnham on Monday and noted that they would be meeting in the \u201cnot too distant future.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a very good conversation with the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Andy Burnham. We discussed many subjects, including the outstanding relationship we have had with the UK. We will be meeting in the not too distant future for topics of mutual interest,\u201d Trump wrote in a post on X<\/a>. \u201cThe Prime Minister has got a big job ahead of him, but he will be able to do it and, of course, the U.S.A. will be there to help! We discussed North Sea Oil, Trade, the Military Alliance, Demining of the Hormuz Strait, and many other topics. The call was interesting, and went very well. I wished Prime Minister Burnham, GOOD LUCK AND GODSPEED!\u201d<\/p>\n

The incoming leader has a heaving inbox: how to solve Britain\u2019s cost-of-living crisis<\/a>, revive its ailing National Health Service, and navigate bitter debates over immigration and Europe. He must also fend off the challenge from Reform UK, the hard-right party led by Trump ally Nigel Farage, which tops the polls.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONDON \u2014 Over to you, Andy Burnham. Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":702533,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-702532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=702532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702532\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/702533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=702532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=702532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=702532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}