BRITISH PREMIERSHIP
THE NEW TENANT AT 10 DOWNING STREET
Saro Thiruppathy profiles the UK’s new prime minister – and the premier’s previous political posts that supported his bid to lead the Labour Party
Former mayor of Greater Manchester and MP for Makerfield Andy Burnham was appointed Prime Minister of the UK on 20 July – he succeeded Sir Keir Starmer, who resigned on 22 June.
Burnham became a member of parliament after winning the Makerfield by-election on 18 June, and this victory paved the way for his prime ministerial bid. He won the approval of a majority of the Labour Party, became its leader and leapfrogged to the post of premier without breaking a sweat.
Burham is the seventh premier that Larry, the chief mouser to the cabinet office, has welcomed to 10 Downing Street since the latter first arrived there in 2011. As six prime ministers left midway into their respective tenures over the past 15 years, the Brits fondly assert that Larry seems to be the most stable political entity in that establishment!
PREVIOUS POSTS Burnham served under former prime ministers Tony Blair (1997-2007) and Gordon Brown (2007-2010). He was the chief secretary to the treasury from 2007 to 2008; secretary of state for culture, media and sport between 2008 and 2009; and secretary of state for health from 2009 to 2010.
He also served as a parliamentary under-secretary of state in the Home Office and Department of Health.
When Labour was in the opposition, Burnham served as the shadow secretary of state for health under then opposition leader Ed Miliband from May to October 2010 and then from 2011 to 2015, following a brief stint as the shadow secretary of state for education.
He stepped down from his MP’s position in 2017 to focus on being the mayoral candidate for Greater Manchester. Burnham won the election and served from 2017 to 2026, which is the longest period he’s held in any post.
As mayor, he launched the Bee Network, which addressed the integration and renationalisation of Greater Manchester’s bus network. Burnham had also championed the initiative titled A Bed Every Night, which set up emergency accommodation for rough sleepers in an effort to combat homelessness.
Under this scheme, beneficiaries received help from specialist teams to overcome addiction and secure permanent housing. But as it kept missing its targets, the scheme proved to be only partially effective.
He also aimed to boost the metropolis’ cultural and economic profile with various initiatives, which were considered very successful.
During his campaign to win the Makerfield by-election, Burnham offered voters a shift away from Westminster politics through a ‘place first’ approach where politics would be brought closer to the people.
And he pledged to establish safer communities with neighbourhood police teams to handle crime, and promised to address local transport services as well.
PALESTINE ISSUE Though Burnham claimed in July that Labour “didn’t get it right” and needs to “do better” in terms of the Palestinian crisis, it’s doubtful that he will be able to change the status quo.
The Labour government under Starmer had been overtly pro-Israel – the former premier had expressed support and sympathy for Israel in 2020 even though he didn’t claim to be a Zionist. He later backed a two state solution while explicitly supporting Zionism – two mutually exclusive concepts.
Starmer then went on to claim that the Labour Party doesn’t consider Israel to be an apartheid state.
He maintained that he’s connected to the Jewish people through his wife. And in his farewell speech in parliament, the erstwhile prime minister claimed that one of his key achievements was the elimination of antisemitic racism in the Labour Party.
It’s in this highly charged milieu that Burnham will be governing.
And while he may have believed that Labour didn’t get it right and could have done better vis-à-vis Palestine, he must know that the genocide being committed on the Palestinian people was enabled by the British political establishment on the premise that Israel has a right to defend itself.
So it’s extremely doubtful that he would willingly wade into treacherous waters and try to change this situation during his term.
PATH TO UNITY Burnham plans to take the Labour Party and his government on a new journey, which will reestablish internal unity and address the hardships of the working class.
But working-class woes didn’t seem to be his top priority when he put the country at risk by saying that British bases in Diego Garcia and RAF Fairford are available to the US in its war against Iran.
Though Burnham was only reiterating his government’s continued approval of Starmer’s decision, the Brits were alarmed when Iran responded by asserting that any involvement by the UK in the war will result in it also being targeted.
So British premier Andy Burnham has inherited a crown of thorns and should step carefully to avoid being hit by the revolving door at 10 Downing Street, before his term is up.
