Andy Burnham to be crowned Labour leader today - but he's not PM yet
The Makerfield MP succeeds Sir Keir Starmer as party leader at the event at midday but will not become Prime Minister until Monday
Andy Burnham will become Labour leader today at a special conference in London.
The Makerfield MP succeeds Sir Keir Starmer as party leader at the event at midday but will not become Prime Minister until Monday.
He has been the only candidate to put himself forward to take over from Sir Keir since he announced his resignation last month.
This means that members of the party are not given a vote as their is no rival wanting to take over.
Mr Burnham received the endorsement of 379 of the 403 Labour MPs earlier this week.
This is the third time that he has run for the leadership, having been beaten by Ed Miliband in 2010 and Jeremy Corbyn in 2015.
Since 2017 he has been serving as Mayor of Greater Manchester, but he left that role to stand in the Makerfield by-election last month.
Despite the area heavily backing Reform UK at the local council elections, Mr Burnham won the seat with over 50 per cent of the vote.
Sir Keir spent his final full day as Labour leader in Ukraine with Volodymyr Zelensky.
While in Kyiv with the Ukrainian president the outgoing PM vowed that the UK’s support for Ukraine “will not waver” and the leadership transition will not “change that dynamic”.
Sir Keir said at a press conference at Mr Zelensky’s official ceremonial residence: “The fact that there will be a new prime minister in the United Kingdom, in the days to come, doesn’t change that dynamic at all.
“The resolve of the United Kingdom remains the same, it will not waver.”
He added: “I say that with real confidence because it has not wavered since the outbreak of this conflict,” and noted there had been intra- and cross-party unity on the issue and the “Ukrainian flag still flies above Downing Street”.
There was huge resolve across politics and among the public, as the conflict touched people’s lives in Britain, through rising costs and state-backed Russian aggression at home, Sir Keir said.
Asked whether he was disappointed that he would not see an end to the conflict before leaving No 10, Sir Keir told reporters: “This isn’t about me, it’s about a country, Ukraine, that has faced an aggressor for now in the fifth year.”
As the press conference got under way, Sir Keir looked touched as the Ukrainian leader surprised him with an Order of Freedom honour, the highest award for a foreign national and only ever given to 30 others, saying: “It really means a huge amount.”
Sir Keir also announced the 300 million-euro funding to help deliver a squadron of 16 advanced Swedish Gripen jets to Ukraine by 2029.
The Government said the programme would support around 5,000 jobs across more than 50 UK companies involved in the global Gripen supply chain, including Saab UK in Fareham and Leonardo UK in Edinburgh.
Sir Keir has spent much of his final week in office focused on Ukraine, travelling to Paris on Monday for a meeting of the “coalition of the willing” at which he announced the UK would join the EU’s 90 billion euro (£78 billion) loan to Kyiv.
His time in office has been characterised by strong support for Ukraine, signing a 100-year partnership with the country and leading plans for a peacekeeping force to be deployed in the event of a ceasefire.
He also announced a 26 new members of the House of Lords on his last full day as Labour leader.
Before winning the 2024 general election, Sir Keir argued the House of Lords should be abolished, and said honours should be for “public service, not Tory cronies”.
In office, the Government passed the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Act 2026, putting an end to seats being available for hereditary peers by virtue of their family ties.
Thos appointed included former Scottish Parliament presiding officer - and two-time Scottish Labour leadership candidate - Ken McIntosh and Glaswegian ex-Unison trade union boss Christina McAnea.
The most eye-catching name among the peerages was London mayor Sadiq Khan, paving the way for him to potentially hold a job in Mr Burnham’s government.
Mr Burnham has not publicly given any clues as to who will be in his cabinet.
Reports had earlier suggested that Ed Miliband - the current Energy Secretary - would be his Chancellor.
But now the indication seems to be that it will be Shabana Mahmood - the current Home Secretary - who will hold the UK Government’s purse strings.
It is unclear what a reshuffle would mean for Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander.
Some Scots Labour MPs think he should be booted out for the party’s poor Holyrood campaign - which he led.
But Mr Alexander served in government and the shadow cabinet with Mr Burnham during the first stints in parliament.
The Lothian East MP held the senior role of shadow foreign secretary when Mr Miliband was Labour leader.
It is expected that the Cabinet will be announced on Monday after Mr Burnham is confirmed as Prime Minister.
Today marks the end of more than six years in charge of Labour for Sir Keir.
He beat rivals Rebecca Long Bailey and Lisa Nandy in the leadership contest after a disastrous result at the 2019 general election. This was the worst Labour had done in nearly 100 years.
After a sluggish first couple of years, Labour’s fortunes turned around drastically in the polls and he was elected prime minister with a landslide victory in 2024.
But he got off to a poor start with the unpopular cutting of the winter fuel payment and a freebies scandal.
He resigned from office the Monday after Mr Burnham returned to parliament.
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