Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Andy Burnham, who was elected the new leader of the Labour Party on Friday, will have the dubious distinction of becoming the seventh Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in just 10 years.
The centre-left party—viewed as clueless, leaderless, rudderless– announced its ‘selection’ to lead the country, until…!
He is set to become the next PM on July 20, formally replacing Sir Kier Starmer, who may now heave a sigh of relief!
Burnham, 56, was the only contender in the leadership contest to replace departing Starmer. He secured nominations from 379 of the 403 Labour lawmakers in the House of Commons, surpassing the threshold to proceed to the next stage.
Home Secretary and Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC) chair Shabana Mahmood made the announcement at a special party conference in London, stating that, “There was only one nominated MP… hardly a nail biter.”
Burnham, the former mayor of Greater Manchester, has been the PM-in-waiting for weeks, but has revealed little detail about his policy priorities.
On Monday, he will be invited by King Charles III to form a new government after outgoing PM Keir Starmer formally tenders his resignation to the monarch.
Burnham is set to join the list of his ‘illustrious’ predecessors in the UK PMs’ musical chairs. They are David Cameron (2010–2016), Theresa May (2016–2019), Boris Johnson (2019–2022), Liz Truss (2022), Rishi Sunak (2022–2024), and Keir Starmer (2024–2026).