Andy Burnham becomes UK prime minister after meeting King Charles

Andy Burnham formally became the UK prime minister on Monday after meeting King Charles at Buckingham Palace, the fourth person to hold the role in less than four years and the sixth within a decade.

Burnham, who took over from Keir Starmer as leader of the Labour party on Friday, accepted the appointment shortly after Starmer had gone to the palace to resign to the monarch. The former Greater Manchester mayor, who only returned to parliament a month ago, will now head to Downing Street, where he will make a statement to the assembled media before announcing his cabinet.

Burnham returned to parliament in a byelection staged by his allies with the explicit purpose of replacing Starmer, after the incumbent prime minister lost the support of many Labour MPs and a number of his ministers following a series of political mishaps and U-turns.

With no one else in the party competing to become leader, Burnham has been made prime minister without any contest and with limited scrutiny. While the same happened for Rishi Sunak in 2022, Sunak had fought a contest against Liz Truss weeks earlier and had very recent cabinet experience. Burnham has been an MP and cabinet minister before, but he left parliament in 2017 to take the Greater Manchester role.