Burnham becomes next to accept leadership challenge

The United Kingdom has a new head of government after Keir Starmer, who was voted into power just two years ago at the 2024 general election, is set to leave his post as prime minister and Andy Burnham is replacing him as leader of the Labour Party on Friday, and of the country in the coming days.

On June 22, Starmer bowed to months of growing criticism of his leadership and political judgment from both within the Labour Party and outside it, and announced he would be stepping down.

Burnham, a former Cabinet minister and member of Parliament, or MP, who had spent the last nine years out of national politics serving as mayor of Greater Manchester, had long been regarded as Starmer's biggest rival within the Labour Party, and just days before Starmer announced he would quit, secured a return to Parliament, signaling the end for Starmer.

With no rivals standing against him, Burnham won the backing of 349 Labour Party MPs out of the total of 403.

With only the formalities of Starmer's farewell speech and his formal resignation to King Charles III left to take place before Burnham also meets the monarch to officially start his tenure, the new leader is expected to make his first speech as prime minister on Monday.

The change of party and national leader, however, does not mean a change of government — an occurrence that has become increasingly common since the UK decided to leave the European Union in 2016.

Following the result of that referendum, Conservative Party prime minister David Cameron stepped down, to be replaced by Theresa May, who took office without a general election, as did her successors Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, and Rishi Sunak.

Burnham could feasibly call a general election soon, to earn a personal mandate to lead the country, but he is not obliged to, and has indicated that he will not, suggesting that he will stick with similar policies to the ones that saw the Labour Party elected into government in 2024.

Parliament is now in recess until September, giving him breathing space to make appointments and set up his government before getting on with the day-to-day business of leading the country in the fall. And he will certainly find that his in-tray is full of things that need immediate attention, particularly matters relating to defense, immigration, and relations with Europe.

Lessons learned

Starmer's journey from entering Downing Street as a winner to leaving its front door less than two years later to announce his resignation was a bumpy one, and one that his successor Burnham is sure to have learned from.

Labour's general election victory in July 2024 was referred to at the time as a "loveless landslide", largely because of voter exhaustion with the governing Conservatives, rather than genuine warmth toward Labour.

Once in office, controversial judgment calls, such as the cutting of winter fuel allowances for elderly residents and the appointment of the scandal-tainted Peter Mandelson as the UK ambassador to the United States, counted heavily against Starmer.

After choosing three consecutive party leaders from north London constituencies, Labour has now turned to someone with a different geographical outlook, which also provides a different political perspective.

Burnham was born in Liverpool in the northwest of England and has made his political reputation and shaped his political approach as mayor of neighboring Greater Manchester, and he has already made it clear that his geography will be reflected in his politics, including establishing a "Number 10 of the North" and shifting some of the focus of power away from London.

"Through No 10 North, and the devolution of power to all parts of the (United Kingdom), we will take a new approach to regenerating and reindustrializing the country, and thereby strengthening its resilience," he wrote in a piece in The Times newspaper that set out many of his policy stances.

With most of his previous political experience being local, Burnham will face many big challenges in his new job, so, as his decision not to call a general election and seek a personal mandate suggests, his is more likely to be a new era of cautious continuity, rather than radical redirection.

One of the most pressing items on his agenda is defense — an area closely intertwined with managing international relations and likely to require sustained focus.

Starmer has left the stage at a vital point in a major review of the country's military capabilities, which impacts on its position in the NATO military alliance, with direct implications for the UK's vital relationship with Washington.

"Our commitment to NATO and the UK's nuclear deterrent will remain absolute," Burnham wrote in The Times. "Our relationship with the (United States) will remain critical as our most important defense and security ally, and Britain's support for Ukraine will not waver."

On immigration, one of the most volatile issues in UK politics, he has pledged to generally back the hardline policies of current Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, although as a new leader, he may wish to have his own appointee in the job.

The drawn-out process of leaving the EU has made relations with Europe complex, and as his wife is Dutch and he has previously spoken of his desire to see the UK rejoin the bloc, it is a topic about which Burnham clearly has strong personal feelings.

However, in May, he toned down previous comments by saying: "My view is that Brexit has been damaging, but I also believe the last thing we should do right now is re-run those arguments … it is going to undermine everything I have said about strengthening democracy if we don't respect that vote (to leave)."

And in the piece in The Times, he carefully interwove European relations with other topics.

"I want to consolidate the progress made on the existing UK-EU negotiations and make further progress quickly," he said, explaining he wanted to work on shared threats such as terrorism and orchestrated disinformation.

The summer parliamentary recess will give Burnham some vital time to arrange things as he wants before getting on with the real business of governing. Time is a luxury rarely afforded to politicians, so he must use it well to get to grips with his new job.