Former Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham was yesterday to officially become leader of the UK’s governing Labour Party, clearing his final hurdle to taking office as prime minister next week.The center-left party was to announce the result of a leadership contest to replace departing British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, in which Burnham was the only contender. He had secured nominations from 379 of the 403 Labour lawmakers in the House of Commons as of Thursday night.Burnham has been prime minister-in-waiting for weeks, but has revealed little detail about his policy priorities. After winning a special election for a seat in the British Parliament a month ago, he pledged to build a politics “based on unity and hope” and an economy that spreads growth evenly across the country.
New Labour Party member of parliament Andy Burnham speaks to supporters and members of the media at Ashton in Makerfield, England, on June 19.
He has held no news conferences and given few interviews, and was to arrive in Downing Street largely unknown to voters outside Manchester.Burnham brings a more relaxed style of leadership than the rather stern Starmer, and is regarded as one of the Labour Party’s best communicators. However, he faces many of the same problems as his predecessor, including a sluggish economy, a cost-of-living squeeze fueled by wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, and overstretched public services.
