Andy Burnham was elected leader of Britain’s governing Labour Party on Friday, the final step before becoming the seventh prime minister.
Burnham, who was confirmed at a ‘special conference’ on Friday, said he was ready for power and would work to offer hope to people in “forgotten places everywhere”.
He told party members and lawmakers: “We are united and we put the power that comes from that unity at the service of people and places who have been waiting too long for politics to let them hope again,” he told a room full of Labour lawmakers and party officials.
“And that’s what we’re going to do, everybody, we’re going to give them hope back.”
Burnham, nicknamed the ‘King of the North’, also paid tribute to Keir Starmer, the man he will replace as British prime minister on Monday, when the party will be eager to find out his cabinet team and learn more about his approach to government.
He also wrote on X: “It’s the honour of my life to be Leader of the Labour Party.
Burnham declares bid to succeed Starmer as UK prime minister
“I will be a leader for every region and nation in this great country, and this Party will be unashamedly Labour in our priorities and in the decisions we take.
“Together, we will set Britain on a new path.”
Burnham has given one speech since returning to parliament last month after winning a seat in Makerfield, the start of a four-week process to remove Starmer, whose unpopularity across Britain turned his lawmakers against him, and take his place as prime minister.
In it, he sketched out some of his domestic agenda, saying he wanted to oversee the “biggest rebalancing of power” from London to Britain’s regions – something he believes will reduce inequality and the anger felt by “left-behind communities” who have increasingly flocked to Reform.
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