LONDON, July 17, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - Andy Burnham will vow a "new path" for 
Britain when he is confirmed as the ruling Labour party's leader, and the 
country's next prime minister, at a special conference on Friday.

On Monday, Burnham is set to replace Keir Starmer, who resigned last month as 
premier after months of political turmoil, scandal and missteps.

Centre-left Labour retains an overwhelming majority in parliament after the 
2024 elections, so the leader of the party becomes the country's prime 
minister, without new polls being held.

It is only four weeks since ex-Manchester mayor Burnham sensationally 
returned as a member of parliament following a nine-year absence, determined 
to replace Starmer.

He will become the UK's seventh prime minister in a decade, with Labour MPs 
betting Burnham is the party's best chance of reining in Nigel Farage's anti-
immigrant Reform UK party, tipped in the polls to win the next general 
election, expected in 2029.

Nicknamed "King of the North" for winning three successive elections to the 
Greater Manchester mayoralty, Burnham's flagship idea is devolving powers to 
other cities in a bid to fire up Britain's economy, including by setting up a 
"No. 10 North" office.

He was set to say in a speech that Britain took "a series of wrong turns in 
the 1980s" when "political power was centralised and economic power 
privatised".

Making the economy work for people across the UK will require "a new path to 
the one we've been on for the last 40 years", he was to add, according to 
excerpts released by his team.

Hailing from the party's so-called soft left, he favours more public control 
of services and reindustrialisation.

After facing no challengers, he becomes leader at the third attempt, 
following failed bids in 2010 and 2015.

Burnham, an MP between 2001 and 2017 and former government minister, has 
since reinvented himself as a man of the people, melding a relaxed folksy 
style with slick social media videos.

Labour MPs hope he can communicate with the public better than Starmer and 
that he is willing to take a more radical approach to reforming Britain's 
battered public services.

- 'Ask Andy' -

In a public city-centre outdoor "Ask Andy Anything" session in Cardiff on 
Thursday posted on TikTok, he revealed his father has Alzheimer's and said he 
plans to pump resources into social care, adding he was "very familiar" with 
the situation.

He has also vowed to boost the construction of public housing, to try to 
resolve the homelessness crisis.

But he has faced criticism for avoiding tough questions from UK media.

Starmer returned Labour to power after 14 years in opposition in July 2024 
with a landslide victory over the Conservatives, who had churned through five 
prime ministers in the tumult unleashed by the 2016 Brexit referendum.

Starmer's premiership quickly became characterised by domestic policy 
missteps and controversies, including his appointment of ex-Jeffrey Epstein 
associate Peter Mandelson as ambassador to Washington.

Disastrous local and regional election results in May heaped further pressure 
on Starmer, which became impossible to withstand after Burnham won a 
parliamentary by-election on June 18, allowing him to run for leader.

Most Labour MPs then withdrew their support for Starmer, who announced on 
June 22 that he was resigning.

- New leader, old problems -

Burnham, regularly seen in his trademark dark T-shirt and casual jacket, has 
secured the backing of 379 of Labour's 403 MPs, with no one mustering the 81 
nominations required to challenge him.

But he will face the same unenviable challenges that beset Starmer: a tepid 
economy, high government borrowing costs, 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, who will take office after meeting head of state King Charles III, 
has vowed to stick to Labour's 2024 election manifesto by not raising the 
country's main taxes.

He will need to find the money from elsewhere to fill a o4.7-billion ($6.3-
billion) gap over four years in the country's defence investment plan and 
will also have to navigate the thorny issue of welfare reform.