Andy Burnham Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Incumbent Assumed office 20 July 2026 Monarch Charles III First Secretary Louise Haigh Preceded by Keir Starmer Leader of the Labour Party Incumbent Assumed office 17 July 2026 Deputy Lucy Powell Preceded by Keir Starmer Mayor of Greater Manchester In office 8 May 2017 – 19 June 2026 Deputy Richard Leese Paul Dennett Preceded by Tony Lloyd (interim) Succeeded by Paul Dennett (acting) Ministerial offices Shadow Cabinet posts Member of Parliament Incumbent Assumed office 18 June 2026 Preceded by Josh Simons Constituency Makerfield Majority 9,231 (20.3%) In office 7 June 2001 – 3 May 2017 Preceded by Lawrence Cunliffe Succeeded by Jo Platt Constituency Leigh Personal details Born Andrew Murray Burnham 7 January 1970 (age 56) Aintree, Lancashire, England Party Labour Co-op Spouse Marie-France van Heel ​ ​(m. 2000)​ Children 3 Education Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge (MA) Signature Website andyburnham.org.uk Andrew Murray Burnham[a] (born 7 January 1970) is a British politician who has served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party since July 2026. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Makerfield since June 2026, and was Mayor of Greater Manchester from 2017 to 2026. He was the MP for Leigh from 2001 to 2017 and served in the cabinets of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. The first Labour and Co-operative prime minister, he identifies as a socialist and a social democrat, and is associated with the Labour Party's soft-left faction. His political ideology has been called "Manchesterism". Born and brought up in northern England, Burnham joined Labour at the age of 15 and read English at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. In his early career he was a researcher for Tessa Jowell and special adviser to Culture Secretary Chris Smith. He was first elected to the House of Commons in 2001, winning the Greater Manchester constituency of Leigh. He held several ministerial posts under Blair and Brown, firstly as Chief Secretary to the Treasury and then as Culture Secretary, in which capacity he launched the Hillsborough Independent Panel. In 2009 he was promoted to Health Secretary; he responded to the swine flu pandemic and launched an independent inquiry into the Stafford Hospital scandal. After Labour's defeat at the 2010 election, Burnham served in the shadow cabinets of Ed Miliband and Jeremy Corbyn in several positions from 2010 to 2016, firstly Shadow Education Secretary, primarily Shadow Health Secretary and lastly Shadow Home Secretary. He ran for Labour's leadership in 2010 and 2015, coming fourth and second. Selected as the Labour candidate for the new Greater Manchester Mayoralty, he won the mayoral election in 2017 and stood down as an MP. As mayor, Burnham reorganised Manchester's tram and bus systems as the Bee Network and was nicknamed "King of the North" for campaigning for more furlough funding for Northern communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. He was re-elected in 2021 and 2024. Following Labour's return to power in 2024, Burnham maintained strong approval ratings in Greater Manchester, which contrasted with a rapid decline in the popularity of the prime minister, Keir Starmer. Burnham was blocked by the party's National Executive Committee from standing in the Gorton and Denton by-election, but as confidence in Starmer's leadership fell, Burnham increasingly came to be seen as his likely successor. He secured his return to Parliament by winning the Makerfield by-election in June 2026. By law, winning this seat required him to resign immediately as mayor, causing a mayoral by-election. Four days later, Starmer announced his resignation, leading to a leadership election. After being nominated by over 90% of Labour MPs, Burnham was elected unopposed as Labour leader on 17 July and became prime minister on 20 July, the first Labour Co-op MP to hold the post. Leadership election and transition Main article: 2026 Labour Party leadership election On 22 June 2026, Starmer announced that he would stand down as prime minister, remaining in office until a new leader was elected. In response to Burnham's subsequent announcement that he would stand in the ensuing leadership election, Wes Streeting endorsed him, a move which led political experts to conclude the election would be a "coronation" more than a formal contest, as Streeting had been considered Burnham's most likely opponent. Burnham was sworn in as an MP later the same day, with BBC News and Sky News covering his entire train journey from Manchester to London. Burnham was already widely seen as Starmer's likely successor; he was the only declared candidate and had received a significant number of endorsements. Burnham secured nominations from 349 MPs for the leadership election. By 13 July, he was the only candidate nominated, and it was mathematically impossible for anyone else to stand (under Labour rules, a leadership candidate must be nominated by 20 per cent of the party's MPs in order to stand). He was therefore elected unopposed on 17 July....