Andy Burnham (right) shakes hands with former Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock.—AFP
• Set to replace Starmer on Monday• Vows to halt Reform UK’s rise with Labour revival; says party faces last chance to win back trust• Promises to return power to various regions of UK• Nigel Farage dismisses Burnham’s vision as ‘vacuous’
LONDON: Andy Burnham, nicknamed the “King of the North”, was elected leader of Britain’s governing Labour Party on Friday, the final step before becoming its seventh prime minister in a decade on a pledge to thwart the rise of the populist Reform UK.
Burnham, who earned the regal moniker for his determination as mayor of Greater Manchester to defend the region’s interests, told a special conference on Friday he was ready for power and would work to offer hope to people in “forgotten places everywhere”.
Warning that it was Labour’s last chance to turn its fortunes around, the 56-year-old promised to spread power away from Westminster, the heart of British politics, to the nation’s regions and preside over a united team to deliver the change the country was “crying out for”.
