Newly confirmed Labour Party leader Andy Burnham speaks with local stakeholders and party supporters during a visit to Gravesend Town Pier, England, Friday.Gareth Fuller/The Associated Press
Former Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham is set to become Britain’s seventh prime minister in 10 years on Monday, but he’s not well known in Britain or abroad and has yet to outline his domestic or foreign policy.
Mr. Burnham was acclaimed as leader of the Labour Party on Friday, replacing Keir Starmer, who announced his resignation as leader and prime minister last month. Mr. Burnham will head to Buckingham Palace on Monday to be sworn in as prime minister by King Charles III.
“What a moment,” Mr. Burnham told a group of supporters on Friday after formally being declared party leader at a Labour conference in London.
Mr. Burnham promised to pull the party back to its traditional roots and address the challenges that have held the country back since the Margaret Thatcher era.
“Four decades of the neoliberalism that began in the 1980s have not been kind to the places that built our party, nor to the communities across the U.K.,” he said. He added that “this change today is the most significant change moment in our politics for 40 years.”
He also addressed critics who have said that his coronation as leader has come without any detailed policy ideas. “You can be sure of this. I know what I believe after 25 years as an elected Labour representative. And I know what I want to do, working with you all. I have a plan,” he said as the song True Faith by Manchester’s New Order rang out.
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Mr. Burnham’s rise to power, and Mr. Starmer’s fall, have been astonishingly fast.
Just two years ago, Mr. Starmer led Labour to a landslide victory in the general election and seemed set to govern for years. But his government quickly floundered and many policies proved unpopular. Compounding his troubles were the country’s stagnant economy and weak public finances.
As Labour fell further behind Reform UK in public support, backbench MPs began agitating for change. The party’s disastrous showing in local elections last May was the last straw and around 100 Labour MPs demanded Mr. Starmer resign.
Mr. Burnham, 56, emerged as the only real contender and his star-power status among MPs increased after he won a by-election in June, defeating the Reform candidate by a wide margin. Within days, Mr. Starmer announced his departure and the party rallied around the Manchester mayor.
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Mr. Burnham has some experience in government. He served as an MP from 2001 to 2017 and held a couple of cabinet posts under prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He left Parliament in 2017 and was elected mayor of Greater Manchester with 60 per cent of the vote. He was re-elected in 2021 by an even larger margin.
He won accolades as mayor for improving Manchester’s bus service after bringing it under public ownership. But he has yet to outline exactly what he plans to do as prime minister. And he only has three years before the next election must be held.
Mr. Burnham has talked in vague terms about handing more power to regions, increasing public control of key utilities, tightening immigration and reforming social benefits.
He has also said little about foreign policy or how he would handle U.S. President Donald Trump, who has had a tumultuous relationship with Mr. Starmer. (Nor has he addressed Canada or Prime Minister Mark Carney in any capacity.)
Andy Burnham hugs his wife Marie-France van Heel as he is confirmed as the Labour Party's new leader and Britain's next prime minister.Henry Nicholls/The Associated Press
The lack of specifics has concerned some Labour MPs. “Andy hasn’t told us what he’s going to do,” veteran Labour MP Graham Stringer told BBC on Friday. “He’s not explained any plan, or any details, about policy on immigration, the economy, energy, a whole series of major policies are still a mystery.”
Opposition parties have also zeroed in on his lack of detail. “I listened to Andy Burnham’s speech. I wish I hadn’t. Twenty minutes of vacuous twaddle. No change. No specifics. No plan whatsoever,” said Reform MP Robert Jenrick in a statement.
Another key question surrounding the incoming prime minister is who he will appoint as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Rachel Reeves, who has served in that post under Mr. Starmer, has been criticized for her handling of the economy.
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Mr. Burnham said on Friday that he has yet to make any decisions about cabinet appointments. But a leading contender for Chancellor is Shabana Mahmood, the current Home Secretary. Although she has little financial experience, Ms. Mahmood is considered a steady hand who would be acceptable to the businesses community.
It’s far from clear that Mr. Burnham will have any more success than Mr. Starmer. Britain’s economic growth has been flat and there’s little fiscal room for big spending initiatives.
The extent to which his policies “will lift potential growth over time is open to question and will depend on the details,” Michael Saunders, a senior economic adviser at Oxford Economics wrote in a report this week. “But in any case, it’s unlikely they’ll significantly lift growth in the next two to three years.”