{"id":129532,"date":"2026-07-17T20:08:54","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T15:08:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?p=129532"},"modified":"2026-07-17T20:08:58","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T15:08:58","slug":"andy-burnham-elected-new-labour-leader-now-set-to-be-uk-pm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/129532\/","title":{"rendered":"Andy Burnham elected new Labour leader, now set to be UK PM"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Web desk(National Times)- Veteran UK politician Andy Burnham was confirmed as the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/2016150\/andy-burnham-to-be-made-uk-labour-leader-on-way-to-becoming-prime-minister\">new leader of the ruling Labour Party<\/a>\u00a0on Friday, and is now set to be Britain\u2019s next prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere being no other eligibly nominated candidate, it is therefore my honour to declare that the duly elected leader of the Labour Party is Andy Burnham,\u201d interior minister Shabana Mahmood told a special party conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Burnham takes over from Keir Starmer, who resigned last month as premier after months of political turmoil, scandal and missteps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking in London after being formally confirmed as Labour leader and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/2009103\">succeeding<\/a>&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/2015768\">Keir Starmer<\/a>, Burnham said he had not yet made up his mind about the composition of his top team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI haven\u2019t made any decisions yet about who will be in that top team. But I will soon, and when I have, you will see it reflects all parts of our party, all communities,\u201d Burnham said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Centre-left Labour retains an overwhelming majority in parliament after the 2024 elections, so the leader of the largest party becomes the country\u2019s prime minister, without new polls being held.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Monday, he will become the UK\u2019s seventh prime minister in a decade, with Labour MPs betting Burnham is the party\u2019s best chance of reining in&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/2013715\">Nigel Farage<\/a>\u2019s anti-immigrant Reform UK party, tipped in the polls to win the next general election, expected in 2029.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nicknamed \u201cKing of the North\u201d for winning three successive elections to the Greater Manchester mayoralty, Burnham\u2019s flagship idea is devolving powers to other cities in a bid to fire up Britain\u2019s economy, including by setting up a \u201cNumber 10 North\u201d office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said the past four decades since \u201cthe 1980s have not been kind to the places that built our party, nor to the communities across the UK in rural and coastal areas. So we pledge today, to them, to be better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf we want an economy and a country that works for all people and places\u2026 then it requires a new path to the one we\u2019ve been on for the last 40 years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The new party leader also said that he would be a pro-business leader of the Labour Party, saying his experience working with businesses as mayor of Greater Manchester would be a model for government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI will be a pro-business leader of the Labour Party, as I was a pro-business mayor of Greater Manchester,\u201d Burnham said after being confirmed as the new Labour Party leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe turn places round together, and that is the way we ran in Manchester, and we will take to the whole country,\u201d Burnham added, referring to his record of working with businesses to drive economic growth in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Burnham said that the government could not control inflation effectively without greater public control over essential costs, adding Britain needed to take a new economic path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf we don\u2019t have sufficient public control over the cost of the essentials, how can we have control over inflation, public spending, and the rest of the economy?\u201d Burnham said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Burnham vowed to give \u201chope back\u201d to the British people as he prepares to become the UK\u2019s next prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He told a special party conference that \u201cpeople and places\u2026 have been waiting too long for politics to let them hope again\u2026 We\u2019re going to give them hope back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI am for us, for all of us,\u201d he told cheering delegates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/2016211\/andy-burnham-elected-new-labour-leader-now-set-to-be-uk-pm#who-is-andy-burnham\"><\/a>Who is Andy Burnham?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Burnham was born in Liverpool in 1970 and grew up in Cheshire. He studied English at the University of Cambridge and worked in journalism before moving to politics in his early 20s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He first became MP in 2001 and held cabinet roles in former prime minister Gordon Brown\u2019s government, before eventually standing down as an MP in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In that time, he ran for the Labour leadership twice, losing on both occasions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most recently, Burnham was mayor of Greater Manchester, a role he held from 2017 until last month. He drew praise as mayor for his work to transform the region\u2019s transport system, and gained a strong reputation as a voice for the north of England.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He returned to Parliament a month ago in a by-election, with his victory over the right-wing party Reform\u2019s candidate, convincing many Labour MPs he was the right candidate to replace Starmer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Other senior Labour figures \u2014 such as former health secretary Wes Streeting \u2014 abandoned their own leadership ambitions and got behind Burnham, along with the overwhelming majority of the party\u2019s MPs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Burnham is married to Marie-France van Heel. They met while they were students at Fitzwilliam College, University of Cambridge, in 1989.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They have been married since the early 2000s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Van Heel has worked in marketing and strategy for many years, notably for Sky, and has also been involved in the logo designs for the BBC and England Rugby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The couple have three children \u2014 Jimmy, Rosie and Annie.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Web desk(National Times)- Veteran UK politician Andy Burnham was confirmed as the\u00a0new leader of the ruling Labour Party\u00a0on Friday, and is now set to be Britain\u2019s next prime minister. \u201cThere being no other eligibly nominated candidate, it is therefore my honour to declare that the duly elected leader of the Labour Party is Andy Burnham,\u201d [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129533,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-129532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest_news","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - 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