Andy Burnham becomes UK PM, says Britain needs to 'regain stability'

REUTERS/ AFP -- Britain’s King Charles III on Monday appointed Andy Burnham as prime minister after outgoing Keir Starmer officially tendered his resignation, the palace said.

“Andrew Burnham MP accepted The King’s offer and kissed hands upon his appointment as Prime Minister,” Buckingham Palace said in a statement, adding the king had asked him to form the next government.

“Britain needs to show the world that we can regain our stability once again,” Burnham said outside 10 Downing Street.

“We have not been good enough, and we need to be better.”

BBC reported that a large crowd of supporters erupted into applause as Burnham stepped onto Downing Street for his speech.

Burnham became Britain’s sixth prime minister to move into Downing Street in 10 years, with an in-tray overflowing with challenges and little time to make his mark.

The new leader takes over from the unpopular Starmer just two years after the outgoing prime minister led the Labour Party to power in a landslide election victory after 14 years of Conservative rule.

In an interview with The Times published late on Sunday, Burnham set out his ambition for change, saying 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.”

An announcement on his senior cabinet appointments was also expected on Monday, 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.

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

“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.