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Labour Party leader Andy Burnham has become the new British prime minister, Buckingham Palace confirmed Monday.
Burnham arrived at Buckingham Palace just after Keir Starmer officially resigned as prime minister.
Burnham clashed with Starmer last year, pushing him to adopt a more leftist vision for Labour and openly opposing his welfare cuts.
He now faces the task of winning back support lost to Nigel Farage's hard-right Reform UK party, which has led Labour in opinion polls for about 18 months.
In his first speech as the British premier, Burnham said he will set out a new 10-year plan to ease cost of living, pledged to re-industrialize Britain and end sleeping rough on the streets.
Speaking without notes outside 10 Downing Street, the former Greater Manchester mayor acknowledged that “people at home are fed up with politics” and that the country's political class has “not been good enough.”
He unsuccessfully ran for the Labour leadership twice—in 2010 and 2015—before leaving Westminster to become one of Britain's most recognizable regional leaders.
Three consecutive election victories in Manchester, along with his staunch defence of the region, earned him the nickname “King of the North."
Burnham has branded his political ideology "business-friendly socialism," stressing the need to respond to "the high-inequality, low-growth trap" he complains has dominated Britain since the 1980s.
"I'm feeling ready. I've had a long journey to this point, but I am ready to lead. I know what I want to do," he said Monday after visiting a homeless shelter and vowing to end "rough sleeping."
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