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Andy Burnham became Britain's fifth prime minister in four years and seventh in ten years when he formally accepted an invitation from King Charles to form a government.
The meeting followed immediately after Keir Starmer tendered his resignation.
Burnham received the nomination of 379 out of 403 MPs in the House of Commons to become leader of the Labor Party last week.
Britain's democratic system allows ruling parties to change leaders, including prime ministers, without the need for a general election. The next general election does not have to be held until 2029.
Although Burnham is considered one of the Labor Party's best negotiators, he faces many of the same problems as his predecessor, including a sluggish economy, cost-of-living pressures fueled by the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East and stretched public services.
Burnham, MP for Wakefield, last week highlighted plans to focus on economic regeneration, more public control of key sectors and the creation of new modern industrial jobs.
Burnham was born in Liverpool, where his father worked as a telephone engineer and his mother as a receptionist. He earned a degree in English at Cambridge, where he met his wife – Marie-France van Heel, a Dutch-born, Belgian-raised sales professional known to friends as “Frankie.” They have three children.
He is no stranger to state politics, he started working as an MP from 2001 when Tony Blair was prime minister, and later became culture minister and health minister under Gordon Brown who succeeded Blair.
Burnham made unsuccessful bids for the Labor leadership in 2010 and 2015.
Starmer made his farewell speech outside 10 Downing Street before meeting the king to hand in his resignation letter. He told his fans that “my work is done” and that he is leaving with “good grace” and a “smile.”
“I wish him success,” he said of Burnham.
Starmer led Labor into the 2024 mid-term elections as the party more than doubled the seats it lost over the past five years, with its share of the overall vote increasing by only about 2 per cent. Starmer's two years in office have been marred by missteps and lapses in judgment that have damaged his standing with his party and the public.
Starmer still serves as the Member of Parliament for Holborn and St. Pancras.
Labor is trailing the anti-immigration party Reform UK in opinion polls, with the election due before 2029. Labor suffered disastrous results in May's local elections, putting pressure on Starmer to stand down.
