Burnham becomes new UK PM after meeting king

Britain's King Charles III and Britain's incoming Prime Minister Andy Burnham at Buckingham Palace, London, on July 20, 2026.  [AFP]

Andy Burnham became British prime minister Monday after meeting King Charles III at Buckingham Palace and was set to set out his vision for the country after taking over from Keir Starmer.

Starmer departed Downing Street on Monday morning, insisting in a farewell speech his two years in office had made Britain a better place.

The monarch met Starmer to accept his resignation and Burnham arrived next for the formal procedure in which the king asked him to form the next government and he accepted.

The 56-year-old is the sixth prime minister to enter Downing Street in the last 10 years.

"I am confident that Britain is now stronger and fairer than it was two years ago," Starmer told reporters in his farewell speech outside his central London office.

"I go with good grace, I go with a smile, and I go proud of everything that we have achieved," he added.

Burnham  will face an in-tray overflowing with challenges with little time to make his mark.

In an interview with The Times published late Sunday, Burnham said he wanted to draw a line under a decade of political turmoil.

"What we've been doing hasn't been working. That's the way I see it," he said.

"I am going to try and do things in a different way."

In his first speech, Burnham will set out "priorities for restoring confidence in government and giving Britain more breathing room" amid the cost-of-living crisis, his team said.

Delivering growth and devolving power to regional communities are also expected to feature.

Also on Monday he is likely to announce his senior cabinet appointments, with all eyes on who will replace Rachel Reeves as finance minister.

The former mayor of Greater Manchester, nicknamed the "King of the North", has been parachuted in by the Labour Party, after Starmer resigned last month, with MPs viewing him as the party's best chance of reining in Nigel Farage's anti-immigration Reform UK party.

Among Burnham's most urgent challenges will be a tepid economy, high government borrowing costs, a ballooning welfare bill and irregular migrants arriving in small boats that have fuelled support for Reform.

Unpredictable energy prices due to the US-Iran war and a volatile American president in Donald Trump also threaten to buffet his premiership.

Burnham told The Times he would take a "different approach to public spending, and to running the economy -- more focused on early investment, early intervention, setting people up for success, and much less paying for failure."

He promised "early moves to help" with the cost of living, saying that while campaigning he heard the "pressure people feel around their finances".

Starmer led Labour to power in July 2024 in a landslide election victory after 14 years of Conservative rule.

He announced that he would resign as prime minister and Labour Party leader in late June after a string of scandals, missteps and policy U-turns blighted his leadership.

But Burnham, who only returned as a member of parliament four weeks ago, has little room to manoeuvre amid sluggish economic growth, high public debt and strict financial rules requiring him to balance government spending against tax revenue.

Burnham was an MP between 2001 and 2017, serving as a minister in the governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

He has since reinvented himself as a man of the people, melding a relaxed, folksy style with slick social media videos.

But he has only three years to turn things around, with Reform leading in polls ahead of the next general election expected in 2029.

Burnham told supporters on Friday his Labour takeover was the "last chance" for the party to get things right.

Critics have accused Starmer's government of being under-prepared for power when he was elected in July 2024.

Burnham has insisted he has a "plan".

But his swift "coronation" as Labour leader has raised questions on how he will achieve his aims.

His first policy announcement came on Saturday when he scrapped Starmer's flagship nationwide digital ID scheme, estimated to cost £1.8 billion over three years.

A spokesperson said the time and resources would be diverted "to where it's most needed, such as helping with the cost of living".