Andy Burnham becomes prime minister after Keir Starmer leaves Downing Street for the last time

After being named leader of the Labour party, Andy Burnham has officially become prime minister of the UK. That many people considered this day an inevitability doesn’t make it any less momentous. Six years ago, Starmer inherited a Labour party that had failed to win four general elections and was battling a tarnished reputation. In the month he took over as leader, Labour were polling at 29%, 22 points behind Boris Johnson’s Conservative party. Starmer was described as “ruthless”, which he occasionally admitted himself, in turning the party around. He expelled those associated with anti-semitism or who disavowed Labour and spent four years preparing to fight a winning electoral campaign. The scandals and changes in leadership for the then-governing Conservative party certainly helped Starmer. Labour became more popular than the Tories in November 2021 and held that lead until the July 2024 general election. Starmer looked to persuade voters by promising “national renewal” and a principle of “country first, party second”. It worked, to a degree. Labour did win a landslide victory in 2024, but it was just as much a function of the electoral system as a Starmer success story. Two thirds of those who voted – and swathes of people didn’t – opted for parties that weren’t Labour. Yet they started the parliament with 412 MPs in the party’s second-biggest ever win. It turned out that perhaps “country first, party second” isn’t the best principle to govern by. Early in his premiership, Starmer made decisions that were not well received by his party. This included policies on welfare reform, winter fuel payments and farmers’ inheritance taxes, alongside accusations of parroting the rhetoric of right-wing Reform UK, a party that was rapidly rising in the polls. The backlash from both country and party led to a series of U-turns. The Peter Mandleson scandal added more uncertainty to his ability to command authority over his party. Starmer’s popularity with the public dwindled too. It took less than a year for Labour to lose its lead in the polls. While Starmer was praised on the international stage, his domestic standing weakened. Finally, it was a poor performance in the 2026 local elections and a series of cabinet resignations that put the writing on the wall. Burnham was given the opportunity to become an MP and won the seat in Makerfield. Hours before he was sworn into parliament, Starmer stood outside Number 10 to announce his resignation. An end to six years as Labour leader, two years as prime minister, and a replacement already on his way to London. What happens now? The changeover follows a script that the UK has grown familiar with, having had six prime ministers in a decade. The outgoing leader travels to Buckingham Palace to formally resign as prime minister to King Charles – a short audience with no ceremony beyond it. His authority officially ends the moment the king accepts. The incoming prime minister then makes the same journey. The king formally invites him to form a government, in the ritual still known as “kissing hands” even though it’s really just a conversation. Only at that point are they legally the prime minister. For Burnham, Friday’s special conference made him leader of the Labour party, but not yet leader of the country. From the palace, Burnham heads to Downing Street for his first speech as PM outside Number 10, the traditional moment to set a tone rather than announce policy. Cabinet appointments tend to follow fast: a new PM wants their top team in place before the day’s news cycle moves on. So we can expect a reshuffle through Monday afternoon and evening. Andy Burnham became prime minister during his meeting with King Charles. Aaron Chown/PA Images/Alamy If a week is a long time in politics, then two years is an age. The series of policy decisions taken by Labour since the general election have garnered criticism from almost all of the electorate. Though some decisions commanded consensus, like the refusal to join US president Donald Trump’s attacks on Iran, most were divisive. The Employment Rights Bill was watered down enough to frustrate the unions who wanted it. Welfare reform split the party between MPs who thought it went too far and disability campaigners who thought it didn’t go nearly far enough. Strikes still ongoing across the NHS and higher education sector are nudging some traditional Labour voters toward the Greens. And on asylum and immigration, echoing Reform’s rhetoric didn’t stop voters drifting to Nigel Farage, while alienating those who hoped for something different from the Conservative years. Winning back an argument on three fronts at once – Reform on the right, the Greens on the left, and the “don’t knows” in the middle – while also demonstrating the basic competence and decisiveness Starmer was accused of lacking, would be difficult for anyone. And the qualities that made Burnham popular don’t automatically survive the move to Number 10. As a metro mayor, he had the freedom to pick fights, claim credit and stay closely identified with one city. Government means trade-offs, collective responsibility and a public that’s watching the whole country – not just Manchester. Starmer, too, arrived with genuine goodwill and a historic majority. Whether Burnham fares differently will depend less on the “buzz” around him now than on how fast he can show that he governs differently, not just talks differently.