Britain is going to get a new Prime Minister soon. The formal process of electing the new leader of the ruling Labor Party began on Thursday and with this the possibility of Andy Burnham becoming the next Prime Minister of Britain has increased. Most Labor MPs have nominated Burnham to replace Sir Keir Starmer. He has been crazy about football and cricket. During Covid he got recognition as the King of the North.
Burnham, the former mayor of Greater Manchester and new MP for Makerfield, is the only candidate in the race to replace current leader Keir Starmer. Starmer had announced his resignation from the post of PM only last month, after which the process of electing a new leader started.
Burnham’s claim to be party leader has received the support of 322 Labor MPs. He remains the only declared candidate in the party since the nomination process started on Thursday. He needs the support of 323 MPs to become the leader so that it becomes practically impossible for any opponent to contest against him. However, he is still one step away from this number.
If he becomes leader, he will take 20 PM’s oath.
However, some MPs also say that they could not vote on Thursday, but will support Burnham when she returns to Parliament. If no one else comes into the contest as expected, then Burnham will be declared the new leader of the Labor Party next week and he can take oath as Prime Minister on 20 July.
There is a sudden jump in the political career of Burnham, who was the mayor of Greater Manchester. Just a few days ago, he won the Makerfield by-election and moved rapidly within the party. In a statement, Burnham said she was “extremely grateful” to the Labor MPs who have nominated her to become party leader.
Burnham’s third attempt at leader
According to the program decided by the National Executive Committee of the Labor Party, the candidate for the post of leader will have to gather the support of at least 81 MPs by July 15. However, since Burnham is alone in the field, this process is being considered a mere formality. It is very possible that he can take over the post of the new leader of the Labor Party and the Prime Minister of Britain by 20th July.
MP Burnham has already presented the No. 10 North plan. Through this, their aim is to move beyond the centralized control of the Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street, London, and give more powers to the regions of England.
However, Burnham is not in the race to become the leader of the Labor Party for the first time. He has tried to become a leader twice before, but failed both times.
Recently became MP again by by-election
His first hurdle in reaching Downing Street was cleared last week, when he won a by-election in Makerfield and was elected MP. He defeated ‘Reform UK’ in the elections. Labor Party won here by more than 9,000 votes.
Burnham, who was the mayor of Greater Manchester, succeeded in increasing the vote share of the Labor Party in the by-election. In the general elections of 2024, the party got 45% votes, which has now increased to about 55%. Burnham, who had taken the lead in the race for PM, was first elected to Parliament in 2001, and will now take oath as a Member of Parliament on Monday.
Father Engineer, Mother Receptionist
56 year old Burnham was born in Liverpool in 1970. His father was a BT engineer and mother was a GP receptionist. Both were staunch supporters of the Labor Party, so Burnham’s interest in politics continued from childhood. It is said that Burnham was inspired to join the Labor Party at the age of 14.
He is a big fan of football. Has been a fan of Everton Football Club. Has also played cricket. He used to bowl fast for the Lancashire Schoolboys cricket team. During his studies, he won the local Roman Catholic Comprehensive School mock election as a Labor Party candidate.
Became a journalist before coming into politics
He and his two brothers were the first members of their family to go to university. Andy studied English at Cambridge. He also likes music. He is a fan of Northern indie bands like ‘The Smiths’ and ‘The Stone Roses’.
After completing his graduation, he started his career in journalism. Worked for trade magazines like ‘Tank World’ and ‘Passenger World Management’. When he was 20 years old, he got his first opportunity to join politics. He began work as a researcher for Tessa Jowell, the then MP for Dulwich and West Norwood, who went on to become a minister in the governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.
At the same time, Burnham also continued to progress rapidly in the field of politics. He became a special advisor to Culture Minister Chris Smith and was then elected MP for his hometown Leigh in Greater Manchester in 2001. He first worked as a junior minister during the Tony Blair era, but during the Brown era he joined the cabinet as Chief Secretary of the Treasury and later as Culture Minister and Health Minister.
Left MP to become mayor
In 2010, Burnham entered the race for party leader for the first time following Brown’s resignation following Labour’s defeat in the general election. But he finished fourth among the five contenders and lost to Ed Miliband. But after this defeat, he started strengthening his position in the party. In 2015, he tried again for the leadership of the Labor Party, but this time too he was not successful and lost to Jeremy Corbyn.
However, Burnham has been called a ‘weather vane’ (one who changes direction with the weather), because he has been changing his political opinions with time. Burnham gradually came towards leftist ideology. He supports nationalization of water and energy.
In 2017, Burnham resigned as MP to contest the election for the first mayor of Greater Manchester. Burnham then won the election by securing more than 60 percent of the votes and was re-elected by an even larger margin in 2021. He was in the news due to his excellent work as mayor during the Covid period.
Now left mayor’s post to become MP
During the Covid era, he accused the then Conservative government of “discriminatory” treatment of Northern England regarding lockdown restrictions. Because of this he came to be called “King of the North”.
In January this year, Greater Manchester MP Andrew Gwynn announced his resignation and a situation of by-election was created here. But the governing body of the Labor Party, with the approval of the Prime Minister, barred Burnham from contesting the election. But by May the situation changed. The Labor Party faced defeat in the elections in England as well as in Scotland and Wales. Whereas the party got success in Burnham area.
After the election, pressure increased on Sir Keir Starmer to step down. Many MPs demanded change and some ministers resigned. Meanwhile, Josh Simmons announced his resignation as Makerfield MP so that Burnham can become MP again. After this, Burnham became the Labor Party candidate from here and was elected MP. Now he is in the race for Prime Minister.
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