Andy Burnham is the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

This Monday he arrived at Buckingham Palace where King Charles III appointed him to office and entrusted him with forming a new government.

"Britain must show the world that we can regain our stability. That is our challenge," Burnham said in her first speech from the government's official residence at 10 Downing Street.

The British thus add their seventh prime minister in a decade, a fact that Burnham did not ignore in her first intervention. “It is a time for reflection and new purposes,” he said.

In his speech, the new prime minister also reflected on the boredom of the British with politics and assured that “we will make this moment a turning point” for the future of the United Kingdom.

He also committed to putting the people at the heart of his government.

The assumption of the former mayor of Greater Manchester comes after the resignation of his predecessor, Keir Starmer, who decided to step aside after losing the confidence of the Labor Party.

Starmer thus left office just over two years after taking office.

Before making his resignation official before the British monarch this Monday morning, Starmer wished his successor the best.

“I wish you much success, you have my full support,” he said.

Burnham came to power without any competition, after receiving the support of 379 parliamentarians, making an internal party election unnecessary.

But the new prime minister came a long way to get to that point.

To be elected, Burnham had to resign as mayor and then submit to a special election to fill the vacant seat left by his comrade Josh Simons, of Makerfield, in Parliament.

More than 10 years ago, he also ran twice, unsuccessfully, for the leadership position.

On its third attempt, the Labor Party has finally given it a chance.

Many of his colleagues see him as the best option for Labor to bounce back after months of deadlock in the polls and devastating election results in May's local elections.

But who is Andy Burnham, whose supporters call him “the king of the north” and how did he become the favorite to lead the country?

Everton fan and independent music lover

Born in Liverpool in 1970, Burnham grew up in Culcheth, a quiet residential village in Cheshire, near Warrington.

His father, an engineer for the telecommunications company BT, and his mother, a receptionist at a health centre, were strong supporters of the Labor Party, which sparked an early interest in politics.

Burnham has told how she was inspired to join the Labor Party at the age of 14, after being moved by a BBC drama series, Boys from the Blackstuff, about the lives of unemployed people in Liverpool.

A lifelong fan of Everton (one of Liverpool's two biggest football clubs, along with the other team the city is named after), his friends remember him as a competitive, sports-mad boy who was a fast bowler on the Lancashire school cricket team.

At school, the local Catholic institute, his English teacher recalls how he stood as a Labor candidate in a mock election, and won by a large majority.

Burnham and her two brothers were the first in their family to go to college; Andy studied English Literature at the University of Cambridge.

In her book, Head North, Burnham wrote that she had trouble fitting in at university and felt like an imposter.

However, the music lover – a follower of northern “indie” groups such as The Smiths and The Stone Roses – said his growing interest in Manchester music “gave him an identity and an edge”.

From MP to Mayor of Greater Manchester

After graduating, he began his journalistic career working for specialized magazines such as Tank World and Passenger World Management.

In his early twenties, he got his first break in politics, working as a researcher for the then deceased MP Tessa Jowell, who would later become a minister under the Labor governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

Despite his later disdain for Westminster parliamentary politics, Burnham rose quickly, becoming special adviser to Culture Secretary Chris Smith before being elected MP for his hometown of Leigh in Greater Manchester in 2001.

He was first deputy minister under Blair, but joined the cabinet as chief secretary to the Treasury, and later as culture secretary and health secretary under Brown.

While Secretary for Culture, Media and Sport, Burnham was booed at an event commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Hillsborough tragedy, where 97 Liverpool fans were killed in a stampede at the stadium in 1989.

The boos prompted Burnham to raise the issue in cabinet, which contributed to the launch of a second inquiry into the tragedy.

In 2010, following Brown's resignation following Labour's defeat in the general election, Burnham stood as a candidate for party leader.

He came fourth among the five candidates, but spent the next five years consolidating his support among the party's rank and file.

In 2015 he tried again, this time being defeated by Jeremy Corbyn.

Burnham's critics have dismissed him as an opportunist, someone whose views are tailored to political circumstances to maximize his chances of success.

A supporter of remaining in the European Union during the Brexit referendum, he has expressed his desire for the United Kingdom to rejoin the EU.

But while she has reiterated her belief that there is a “long-term” case for rejoining, Burnham did not defend it in the Makerfield election, which was held in an area with a strong pro-Brexit bias.

And despite being considered centre-right within the party, Burnham's stances have leaned increasingly to the left, supporting the nationalization of water and energy.

He was not even one of those who resigned in protest against the leadership of Corbyn, one of the most left-wing Labor MPs, in 2016.

But he did resign from continuing in the opposition cabinet in 2017 to run as a candidate for the first mayor of Greater Manchester.

Burnham won the election with over 60% of the vote and was re-elected by an even larger margin in 2021.

The “Bus Network” and the confrontation over confinement

As mayor, he received praise for transforming the region's transportation system.

Under his leadership, Greater Manchester was the first area outside London to regain public control of bus services, integrating them with other modes of transport under one public transport network.

Among his other ambitious promises was to eradicate homelessness in the region by 2020, although the goal was not met.

His popularity rose further during the Covid-19 pandemic, when he accused the Conservative government of treating the north of England with “contempt” over regional lockdown restrictions.

This confrontation contributed to him earning the nickname “king of the north,” a phrase very popular in the successful series Game of Thrones.

For the party's fall 2025 congressional season, Burnham began political maneuvering to seize the leadership, refusing to rule out a run.

His interventions appeared to backfire after provoking a strong backlash by suggesting that the government was “indebted” to the bond markets, a reference to the government's self-imposed rules that limited spending and borrowing.

A potential opportunity to return to Westminster arose in January when Greater Manchester MP Andrew Gwynne announced his resignation, triggering a by-election in his Gorton and Denton constituency.

However, the governing body of the Labor Party, with the approval of Prime Minister Starmer, prevented Burnham from standing.

By May, the situation had changed. The Labor Party suffered dismal electoral results in England, Scotland and Wales, while the far-right Reform Party enjoyed great popularity in the polls and was successful in the Burnham constituency.

Starmer then began to face increasing pressure over his future, with some MPs calling for changes and tendering ministerial resignations.

Josh Simons then announced his resignation as Labor MP for Makerfield so that Burnham could stand and return to parliament.