<\/p>\n
Andy Burnham 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. (Henry Nicholls\/Pool Photo via AP)<\/p>\n
Henry Nicholls\/Henry Nicholls\/Pool AFP via AP<\/p>\n
A camera screen shows the No10 door in Downing Street as Labour Party leader Andy Burnham is set to become the U.K.’s new prime minister, succeeding Keir Starmer in London, Monday, July 20, 2026.<\/p>\n
Thomas Krych\/AP Photo\/Thomas Krych<\/p>\n
Reporters prepare in Downing Street as Labour Party leader Andy Burnham is set to become the U.K.’s new prime minister on Monday, succeeding Keir Starmer in London, Monday, July 20, 2026.<\/p>\n
Alberto Pezzali\/AP Photo\/Alberto Pezzali<\/p>\n
Larry the cat, Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office, sits on the doorstep to No10 Downing Street as Labour Party leader Andy Burnham is set to become the U.K.’s new prime minister on Monday, succeeding Keir Starmer in London, Monday, July 20, 2026.<\/p>\n
Kirsty Wigglesworth\/AP Photo\/Kirsty Wigglesworth<\/p>\n
A protester wears a face mask mocking Andy Burnham outside Downing Street as Labour Party leader Andy Burnham is set to become the U.K.’s new prime minister on Monday, succeeding Keir Starmer in London, Monday, July 20, 2026.<\/p>\n
Kin Cheung\/AP Photo\/Kin Cheung<\/p>\n
LONDON (AP) \u2014 The moment for Andy Burnham has finally come.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
After weeks as U.K. prime minister-in-waiting, Burnham will take office on Monday, succeeding the departing Keir Starmer, and Britain\u2019s political turbulence will give way, at least temporarily, to smooth choreography.<\/p>\n
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Burnham will become the seventh U.K. prime minister since 2016 in a now well-rehearsed handover after replacing Starmer as leader of the center-left governing Labour Party on Friday.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson said Burnham will say in his first speech as prime minister he\u2019s \u201cacutely aware\u201d of how many changes of leader the country has been through in the past decade, and will pledge to restore stability.<\/p>\n
Starmer said much the same when he took office two years ago. Last month he announced he would resign after missteps and judgment 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
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On Monday morning Starmer will travel the mile from Downing Street 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. That’s when he officially becomes prime minister, a moment known as \u201ckissing hands.\u201d<\/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 Street, where he will make his first speech as prime minister.<\/p>\n
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The former mayor of Greater Manchester has pledged to make politics \u201cless toxic,\u201d improve living standards across the country and \u201cbring back the hope we have all been missing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI will work to build a new politics,\u201d he said after becoming Labour leader on Friday. \u201cThe country is crying out for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Critics and supporters alike will soon be clamoring for details of how Burnham plans to fulfill his pledges.<\/p>\n
\u201cFundamentally, 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,\u201d said Joshi Herrmann, who has followed Burnham\u2019s career as founder of Manchester news site The Mill.<\/p>\n
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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
In his first speech as Labour leader, Burnham praised Starmer\u2019s achievements, saying he would \u201cbuild on the foundation laid\u201d by his predecessor.<\/p>\n
Starmer became Labour leader in 2020 after one of the party’s worst election defeats, and led it to a landslide victory four years later. But he was soon defeated by the challenges of governing.<\/p>\n
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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 defense spending.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am proud to leave this country in a better shape than I found it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andy Burnham after being confirmed as the Labour Party’s new leader and the country’s next prime minister, during…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379398,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[123784,134063,90306,89061,23681,59373,84874,59371,84875,86159,61262,82,84,83,65865],"class_list":["post-379397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-andy-burnham","tag-andy-burnham-uk-prime-minister-labour-starmer","tag-keir-starmer","tag-king-charles-iii","tag-package-100024-ap-online","tag-package-100373-mc-complete-state-national","tag-product-30597-ap-business-news-f-wire","tag-product-30598-ap-national-news-report-a-wire","tag-product-31995-ap-online-general-financial-business-news","tag-product-32502-ap-online-europe-news","tag-product-46986-ap-online-top-stories","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news","tag-united-kingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}