The new leader of the Labor Party, Andy Burnham, took office this Monday (20) as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after being tasked with forming a government by King Charles III.
According to information from the EFE agency, Burnham had an audience with the monarch at Buckingham Palace, the official residence of the royal family, shortly after Keir Starmer formally presented his resignation as prime minister to Charles III.
Surrounded by ministers from his administration and the team working at Downing Street, Starmer said that having served as Prime Minister for two years was the “privilege” of his life and claimed that the economy is stronger, public services have improved, many children have been lifted out of poverty, immigration is decreasing and the UK’s international reputation has been “enormously enhanced”.
In his first speech as prime minister at Downing Street, Burnham preached unity. “Let’s build a new national sense of unity, of common purpose and of positivity. Let’s make this the moment when Britain believes again — the moment we reclaim hope,” said the new Labor leader.
Burnham was proclaimed the new leader of the Labor Party on Friday (17), after an internal process in which he had no competitors, and became the new prime minister because the party has the majority of seats in the House of Commons, the lower house of the British Parliament.
He is the seventh prime minister of the United Kingdom in ten years and will govern in the shadow of the right-wing nationalist United Kingdom party, winner of May’s regional elections and which leads the polls for the 2029 national election.