Prime Minister Keir Starmer resigns, UK faces new leadership
Britain faces its seventh prime minister in just over a decade after Keir Starmer announced his resignation.
London – same in-basket. Similar politics. But it’s an upgrade of sorts. He has become faster on his feet, more fluent in public, and more attuned to a country eager for tangible progress on immigration and the cost of living.
That’s how many British officials and political analysts describe Andy Burnham, who will succeed Keir Starmer as Britain’s centre-left Labor Party prime minister on July 20.
Unlike the United States, British voters choose political parties rather than specific leaders, allowing some degree of freedom over who runs the country between general elections. Mr Starmer left not so much because the government failed to make progress, but rather because the gains it made in the economy and public services were modest but substantial, and because he struggled to explain them in terms that captured the mood of the doom-scrolling era.
Timothy Bale, a political science professor at Queen Mary, University of London, said Mr Burnham had already shown he was better at connecting with voters and projecting hope and confidence than Mr Starmer.
But Mr. Burnham faces the same core problems as his predecessor, Mr. Vail said. “How do we make our economy grow faster? How do we improve critical areas like health and defense when we don’t have money? How do we show that our government is on top of undocumented immigration? How do we deal with an insane American president in Donald Trump?”
Mr Burnham, 56, will be the seventh prime minister to live in the same house as Larry the Cat, officially known as the “Chief Mousecatcher”, since David Cameron’s Conservative government brought him to 10 Downing Street in 2011.
The immediate impetus for Starmer’s resignation was in May, when Labor suffered a crushing defeat in local elections, even as Nigel Farage’s Reform UK Party made significant gains. The next UK general election is expected to be held by August 15, 2029 at the latest. Despite Labor’s landslide victory in 2024, opinion polls show that Starmer is one of the least popular British prime ministers of modern times, in part because voters judged him to be far less of a human being.
Starmer was a sophisticated legal technocrat who valued process, order and stability. He gave a sharp speech and appeared serious. Political commentators often referred to him as “Mr. Boring.”
Still, Mr. Starmer forged a working relationship with Mr. Trump, securing U.S. tariffs for the U.K. that were lower than those imposed by the president on many other countries. The two men quickly mended ties after Trump attacked Starmer on social media over Britain’s refusal to take part in the Iran war.
Mr Burnham, former mayor of Greater Manchester, offers a stark contrast. An emotional communicator, he describes himself as a people’s statesman. He promised a “dynamic start” to his time as prime minister by “giving people more room to live” and “making a difference to people’s lives as soon as possible”.
His proposals include nationalizing water and energy companies, launching a radical program of government-funded low-cost housing, restoring the vitality of Britain’s high streets and devolving powers from London to local authorities to improve education.
But Mr Burnham has not explained exactly how he will deliver that program while facing the same tight financial constraints that constrained Mr Starmer, said Matt Beech, a political scientist and historian and director of the Center for British Politics at Hull University. Governments also face soaring welfare costs and urgent demands for investment in defense and public infrastructure.
“He’s much more electable than Starmer. He speaks in a human way. He’s charismatic. He knows how to go out and shake hands and engage with people and energize local party members,” Mr Beech said. “But let me be clear: Andy Burnham is not Tony Blair.”
Mr Blair remains Labour’s longest-serving prime minister and is the only leader to lead Labor to three successive general election victories from 1997 to 2007.
“Starmer was in a difficult position,” Beech said. “I think Burnham is the same way.”
Andy Burnham: “King in the North”
But Burnham is no novice to politics.
Britain’s next 59th Prime Minister first served as Permanent Secretary under Blair. In the government of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who succeeded Prime Minister Tony Blair, he became Secretary of the Exchequer, Secretary of State for Culture, and Secretary of Health.
He ran twice for Labor Party leadership, but lost both times. These defeats ultimately propelled him into the Greater Manchester mayoral race, where he won praise for attracting investment and transforming the region’s public transport system.
Mr Burnham’s national profile rose during the coronavirus pandemic, when he accused Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative government of treating the north of England with “disdain” amid a row over local lockdown restrictions. This conflict earned him the nickname “King of the North”.
Burnham met his wife, Marie-France van Heel, a publicity-shy marketing executive, while studying English literature at Cambridge University. They have three adult children.
Despite his “King in the North” image, Mr. Burnham is a pragmatist, said a senior British official who knew him well and worked closely with Mr. Starmer in Downing Street.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, described Mr. Burnham as an experienced political operator who knows how to adjust his style to work effectively with nearly every world leader, especially Mr. Trump.
Burnham may already be demonstrating that pragmatism.
In late June, President Trump described himself as a “very liberal” politician and said he would “probably not” open up the North Sea for oil and gas drilling. The BBC then reported that Mr Burnham was set to announce new North Sea drilling. This is a move likely aimed at placating President Trump, and appears to break Labor’s election promise.
Bale said Burnham, like Starmer and other world leaders, “will try to calm and charm Trump, knowing that all he can do is minimize the strategic and economic damage he is inflicting until he ultimately leaves the White House.”
But Bale added that no one should expect a “Love Actually” moment, citing a scene in the film in which the fictional British prime minister, played by Hugh Grant, publicly confronts the overbearing US president.
Kim Hjelmgaard is an investigative journalist who covers global stories for USA TODAY, from living rooms to war zones. Follow him on X: @khjelmgaard
