London —
Former Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham seems poised to succeed Keir Starmer after the UK prime minister announced his resignation on Monday, and is widely considered the frontrunner for the role.
Just days ago, Burnham won a crucial by-election, the equivalent of a US special election, in Makerfield, northwest England, which had been triggered with the sole purpose of allowing him to run for the leadership as a sitting member of parliament.
Burnham had not even taken his seat in parliament before crushing pressure within the party prompted Starmer’s resignation – and the popular politician’s confirmation he would seek the top job.
Less than two years after Labour won a landslide election, Starmer’s authority has crumbled, while Nigel Farage’s populist right-wing party Reform UK and the populist left-wing Green Party have surged in opinion polls. Only Burnham, his allies said, could stem the party’s electoral decline in a way that the hugely unpopular Starmer cannot.
