Jul 20, 2026 – 8.48amWhen Andy Burnham, the so-called King of the North, surveys his new domain later Monday after becoming Britain’s seventh prime minister in 10 years, pitfalls and problems abound.Burnham, the former Manchester mayor, will inherit a country whose public mood is down and angry, is politically fractured and economically moribund, with a military at its weakest in decades and diplomatically at a crossroads.Subscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber? Andrew TillettEurope correspondentAndrew Tillett is The Australian Financial Review’s correspondent for Europe, based in London. He was formerly foreign affairs and defence correspondent based in Canberra.Fetching latest articles