On the eve of the tenth anniversary of Brexit, Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced that he would step down as Britain’s prime minister. Initially, people thought that Starmer wouldn’t end up leaving Downing Street until August or September, but Labour did something and now Starmer is officially gone as PM. He made his farewell address earlier today, with his staff and his wife behind him, and then he was gone. Well, no, not really – after his farewell address, Starmer had to go to Buckingham Palace to formally resign. Just minutes after Starmer left the palace, Andy Burnham turned up to kiss the king’s sausage fingers.
The man dubbed the “King of the North” became the new British prime minister Monday, the latest in a revolving door of leaders trying to halt a decade of political turbulence and economic stagnation in the United Kingdom. Burnham, 56, was appointed unchallenged after the unpopular Keir Starmer agreed to step down last month following a series of election defeats, U-turns and scandals.
Both Starmer and Burnham come from the same center-left Labour Party, and in the United Kingdom ruling parties can change leaders — and therefore the prime minister — in the middle of an election cycle without anyone voting. That said, Burnham has promised radical change after taking office following a morning of royal formality, though he already faces infighting over his Cabinet selections.
Making his first speech as prime minister outside No.10 Downing St., Burnham vowed a “circuit breaker for Britain” that would involve “the biggest changes of the past 40 years.” In keeping with the more casual style he’s sought to project, Burnham eschewed the lectern favored by his predecessors, instead speaking while standing freely in the famous street. “I know people are fed up with politics — I hear you,” he said, promising to “bring back hope” to the country.
The incoming leader has a heaving inbox: how to solve Britain’s cost-of-living crisis, revive its ailing National Health Service, and navigate bitter debates over immigration and Europe. He must also fend off the challenge from Reform UK, the hard-right party led by Donald Trump ally Nigel Farage, which tops the polls.
Monday started with the pageantry of a now familiar political handover (Burnham being Britain’s seventh prime minister in a little more than a decade and the fifth in four years).
He had already replaced Starmer as Labour leader. Then, early Monday, Starmer declared “my work is done” as he delivered a farewell speech outside his official residence at No. 10 Downing St. Starmer was then driven to Buckingham Palace, where he offered his resignation to King Charles III. After he left, Burnham arrived at the palace, and the king asked him to form a government. This ceremony is known as “kissing hands,” though new leaders aren’t actually expected to do that these days.
Once the new PM is inside the palace, the king’s team handles the imagery and which photos or videos are released. QEII and King Charles never released any photos or videos of a prime minister kneeling and kissing the sovereign’s hand, but I guarantee that the hand-kiss still happens. For all of Charles’ four prime ministers, he tends to release photos where he’s just greeting them with a handshake. With Liz Truss, the palace released a video of him saying “oh dear” to her when they first met. It was funny. Anyway, I hope Burnham is a good prime minister and I hope the British press doesn’t rip him to shreds.
His Majesty received in Audience the Rt. Hon. Andrew Burnham MP and requested him to form a new Administration. The Rt. Hon Andrew Burnham MP accepted The King's offer and kissed hands upon his appointment as Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury. pic.twitter.com/QGXjt80Tbq
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) July 20, 2026
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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- Andy Burnham gives his inaugural speech as Prime Minister outside No.10 Downing Street Andy Burnham becomes Prime Minister, Downing Street, London, UK – 20 Jul 2026,Image: 1117551726, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no , Credit line: Victoria Jones/Shutterstock/Avalon
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- Prime Minister Andy Burnham and wife Marie-France van Heel at No.10 Downing Street Andy Burnham becomes Prime Minister, Downing Street, London, UK – 20 Jul 2026,Image: 1117551798, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no , Credit line: Victoria Jones/Shutterstock/Avalon
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- Sir Keir Starmer delivers his final address as Prime Minister as Andy Burnham prepares to take over as Prime Minister later today Featuring: Sir Keir Starmer, Lady Victoria Starmer Where: London, United Kingdom When: 20 Jul 2026 Credit: Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR HELLO MAGAZINE**
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- Sir Keir Starmer delivers his final address as Prime Minister as Andy Burnham prepares to take over as Prime Minister later today Featuring: Sir Keir Starmer, Lady Victoria Starmer Where: London, United Kingdom When: 20 Jul 2026 Credit: Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR HELLO MAGAZINE**
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- Andy Burnham gives his first address as the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Featuring: Andy Burnham Where: London, United Kingdom When: 20 Jul 2026 Credit: Cover Images
Much of the political and economic chaos was caused by Brexit. Now the people who brought the UK Brexit are using the rolling crises to boost their own political power. I hope Burnham understands this better than his immediate predecessors.
Burnham actually comes from the part of the UK that caused Brexit – the North voted overwhelmingly to leave and then complained/cried when all the EU rejuvenation money dried up.
He won’t last – the British Media has it in for him and given that he was ‘installed’ as Prime Minister as no one was ‘allowed’ to stand against him he will be lucky to last at the next election as the people are not happy. There was no democratic vote either by the party or the people. He’s already upset the Scottish gov with his plans for the North Sea.
Switching pms without a vote by the people is definitely a weakness of the parliamentary system. But that’s hardly Burnham’s fault. He’s already saying things (and stepping on toes) that Starmer never did. Not being so cautious may be what’s needed. Everything else has been tried.
The ‘North’ isn’t a monolith that all thinks, feels and votes the same way. It’s an extremely diverse and complex region.
Burnham comes from Liverpool (which voted Remain – 58%) and was Mayor of Manchester (which voted Remain – 60%). Both are very cosmopolitan, left wing cities.
Meanwhile you can look at plenty of places in the South that voted Brexit, these are usually very poor areas of high unemployment where people have lost hope (e.g. Clacton), making them easy prey for far right influencers on social media.
It’s always the more working class, lower education areas in every country that vote right wing…
Unless he addresses inequality, his term will be doomed.
His early remarks are encouraging.
“We overtax people’s work and we under tax people’s wealth. I’m not sure the balance is right.” Finally a Labour prime minister who sounds like a Labour prime minister.
With a key advisor, an economist, who is anti royal funding and anti windsor.
So this is unusual for Britain, right? All these prime ministers? He’s the fourth since 2022?? I hope he is able to stick it out for some stability and can make progress with the cost of living and other issues.
I’d assume the British press will rip him to shreds. Is there any chance they won’t?
Is it possible that the British public will just start tuning out the press? I mean a new PM every other year is unsustainable and surely at some point they will just roll their eyes and shrug. Or.. is this going to go on until Farage wins?
Certain part of the press won’t stop until they get who they want in power – in this case Farage. They saw how the power of the media (Murdoch and Musk) work in favour of Trump and are following that same play book. It’s worked to a degree but I think Farage’s recent stunt calling a by election might actually blow up in his face – so far there are 34 independents standing against him (one of them is Laurence Fox – the former actor turned freak).
The English shouldve tuned out their press after the corbyn and brexit smear jobs. If the public truly wanted to brexit thats fine but the press really did a con job. Just lying and presenting paid celebrity’s as “truly supporting brexit”.
Once brexit happened and none of those guys had a plan the public shouldve demand new press standards. Has Farage presented a plan yet? I dont think he has. It has been at least 4 years since official Brexit.
I’m not sure the newspapers as much the problem as everyone says they are. They’ve always been rabid. They were brutal to Blair and he lasted 10 years, most papers loved Truss and she only lasted a month.
This is a more recent phenomenon, which makes me think its more about social media and people being stuck in online echo-chambers that cause them to unknowingly self-radicalise.
If we look at it through the lens of the party turning against the leader, I don’t think these recent “firings” can’t totally be blamed on the media (though I do think social media is dangerous for democracy in general and i think the media had an effect on the Brexit vote, since that was an actual vote that took place).
These prime ministers aren’t’ really being voted out by the public (which would naturally be influenced by the media). So that’s where things get a bit curious. It’s their own parties having internal division, which means they have to quit. I don’t know if the media can be blamed for caucus members not internally uniting or plotting against you. I guess you could say the same for the Democratic party in the USA.
I do think Liz Truss quitting was the funniest quit of all time though. Maybe she was mockable, but I think her party not liking her was her own fault. And maybe her crashing the pound didn’t help…
Farage’s plan is to make sure he gets lifetime security out of ravec.
He made sure all his kids had EU citizenship, to keep them safe from brexit fallout.
Starmer has really messed up his chance at another crack at being pm. I cant believe he said “my work is done”. He is leaving because he did no real work for the people. I had high hopes for him. He didnt even try to help regular folks. He is just so out of touch. Im shocked.
Burnham also seems out of touch. He has been crowned pm. In this environment! If he goes down the starmer path he will be out in a few months.
Starmer achieved quite a few significant things (for example, lowered NHS waiting lists, renters rights, more employment rights, made prisons safer, more funding for renewable energy etc.)
Unfortunately, he was terrible at communications so you probably won’t have heard of them unless you were paying attention.
Starmer wins have a lot of pitfalls. A lot of burden shifting. Cut this to give that. Some of the wins may turn out to exasperate an issue.
Its like he looked to one section and helped them while ignoring this section. Its part of why he is no longer pm. And we all know some of his wins will be walked back because they are too broad.
They weren’t written in a way to last. I can see multiple delays in initiating them. like how brexit took almost a decade.
They all kiss the ring, literally, of these medieval monarchs. And don’t tell me they don’t have political influence. They do. Kings and queens meet regularly with the PM and do give their opinion. Monarchy is a right wing institution.
Too bad he didn’t ask Chuck why he couldn’t allow his son to spend a night in a humongous empty palace renovated by the public purse.
I just hope he didn’t literally kiss Charles’ hand. That would be a very bad start for the Prime Minister of a nation. The Prime Minister, NOT the king, is the true leader of England, England as a democracy, not as a hostage to supposedly “ceremonial” royals, who suck up all the money unfairly and illegally.
Dying at the DM screaming and crying “how DARE Labour appoint a new PM without a General Election !” as if the Tories had not scammed their way into power for nearly 15 years and appoint a series of buffoons without any mandate. Even their own readers were calling them hypocrites in the comments.
The tories got to a point where they just didnt care. They messed up so bad. So many half-plots.
I didnt think brexit was the way but I was expecting them to make it work. Stores had outages almost immediately! No captains of industry planned for brexit! So surprising. Farage and boris johnson still havent came up with a plan. I throw Boris in because he screamed loud at first. I know he is kinda retired.