LONDON (AP) — Andy Burnham, the former mayor of Greater Manchester and new leader of the Labour Party, is taking the final steps on Monday to succeed Keir Starmer and become Britain’s seventh prime minister in a decade.

The affable Burnham returned to Parliament in June by winning a risky special election and was sworn in as a member on July 12, hours after the unpopular Starmer announced his resignation to end a tenure of just two years in office.