Who will become the new UK Prime Minister and will they cope with their predecessors' legacy
Britain is preparing to get its seventh Prime Minister in the past 10 years. After Keir Starmer announced his resignation, the governing Labour Party is set to choose a new leader who will also head the British government.
There is little real suspense about the contest. The only person who has so far declared an intention to run for party leadership is former Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham. The internal party elections are officially set to begin on 9 July.
Read more about the politician who quickly gained support within his party and among the public, the challenges he will face and whether changes in UK policy towards Ukraine should be expected in the article by European Pravda journalist Olha Kovalchuk: A supporter of Ukraine and the EU: can PM Burnham protect Britain from the far-right?
Andy Burnham first entered the UK Parliament in 2001.
He became a Member of Parliament for the Leigh constituency in Greater Manchester. A few years later, the then 35-year-old MP was appointed Deputy Home Secretary in Tony Blair’s government. He later served as Chief Secretary to the Treasury in Gordon Brown’s cabinet.
In 2010, Burnham first attempted to run for Labour Party leadership but lost to Ed Miliband. Labour then spent six years in opposition, while Burnham held roles in the shadow cabinets of Miliband and James Corbyn.
In 2015, Burnham made another attempt to lead Labour.
However, he lost to Corbyn by a significant margin (19% to 59%). After the defeat, he became Shadow Home Secretary.
Positioning himself against "system politicians" in London (despite being part of that system himself) brought him considerable popularity.
Leading Greater Manchester, the UK’s second-largest regional economy, is widely seen as Andy Burnham’s key achievement. He served three consecutive terms as mayor, each time winning more than 60% of the vote.
His popularity as a regional politician was reinforced by his distance from Westminster and his focus on the problems of cities outside London. His frequent clashes with the central government and advocacy for northern English cities (including Greater Manchester) earned him the nickname "King of the North".
The potential Prime Minister’s position on the Russia-Ukraine war has been consistent and clear.
In the first days of Russia’s full-scale invasion, the Mayor of Greater Manchester expressed support for the Ukrainian people in a letter to the mayors of Kyiv, Kharkiv and Lviv, offering humanitarian assistance. Burnham called Ukraine "a democracy under attack" and said sanctions on Russia were "insufficient".
"These are really, really dark times for the Ukrainian people. We’ve just got to stand with them and stand up to somebody who, if we’re honest, has been making unacceptable threats for at least 15 years now. We’ve got to recognise that we’ve not done enough to stand up to him up until this point," the politician said in the early days of the invasion.
While leading Greater Manchester, Burnham also took a symbolic but politically important step.
In 2024, the city recognised the Holodomor famine of 1932–1933 as genocide of the Ukrainian people.
However, a newly appointed British Prime Minister typically focuses first on domestic issues. And here, under Starmer’s premiership, many problems have accumulated – from the economy to defence.
The fall of six governments in 10 years is unusual for the UK and signals a significant internal crisis. The country’s centuries-old political system, considered one of the most stable democracies in the world, is for the first time facing the risk of radicalisation.
Western media suggest that Burnham’s premiership, at 56 years old, could become the British establishment’s last chance to prevent the expected rise of the far-right, led by Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.