Andy Burnham became Britain's seventh prime minister in a decade Monday, pledging to reshape its politics to deliver a new economic model and revive a nation ‘fed up’ with a revolving door of leaders.
In front of dozens of supporters outside his new office and residence at 10 Downing Street, Burnham said politicians had failed to bring the stability needed to raise living standards, something he said he would change, with both immediate measures and a longer-term plan to be drawn up later this year.
Speaking without notes, Burnham delivered a domestic-focused speech aimed at offering hope to a nation that has, like many European countries, struggled for years with soaring prices and anaemic economic growth. He did not touch on foreign affairs.
And with his first appointment as finance minister, Burnham pressed home his decision to rip up politics as usual. He appointed former defence minister John Healey to the second most powerful position in Britain, promoting a man who resigned under Keir Starmer in protest at the inflexibility of the Treasury.
‘I know people at home are fed up with politics. I hear you, and I want to be honest with you, we have not been good enough and we need to be better,’ Burnham said, dispensing with the lectern that prime ministers generally use. Burnham pledged to use his premiership as a ‘circuit-breaker for Britain’, arguing that a new model was needed to rebuild the country, which has been in political turmoil since voting in 2016 to leave the European Union.
Just over an hour after his predecessor and Labour colleague Keir Starmer had made his farewell speech to say ‘My work is done’, the 56-year-old former Greater Manchester mayor entered Downing Street, where he said his team would tackle his first priority: to end rough sleeping.
