Keir Starmer is out. Andy Burnham is in.
On Monday, outgoing Prime Minister Starmer traveled to Buckingham Palace to tender his resignation to King Charles III. Shortly afterward, his successor, Andy Burnham, made the same journey and was invited by the king to form a new government.
Burnham then returned to Downing Street, where he delivered his first remarks as prime minister. He said, "It requires my generation of politicians to raise our game." He said politicians are "acknowledging that many voters have grown frustrated with politics."
"I want to be honest with you: We have not been good enough, and we need to be better. We will be," Burnham said.
Burnham becomes the U.K.'s seventh prime minister in a decade, since Britons voted in June 2016 to leave the European Union. That decision ultimately shrank the British economy, triggered anger at the governing class and contributed to a revolving door of prime ministers.
Starmer delivered his final speech outside No. 10 Downing St. earlier on Monday before heading to Buckingham Palace to formally resign as prime minister, declaring: "My work is done."
"In 6 1/2 years, I took our party from a historic defeat in 2019, changed it so it was fit to face the country, and won a landslide general election victory in 2024," Starmer said. He described serving as prime minister as "the privilege of my life" and said he was leaving office confident Britain was "stronger and fairer" than it was two years ago.
Closing his final address outside Downing Street, Starmer said, "I go with good grace, I go with a smile, and I go proud of everything we have achieved."
Starmer led the U.K.'s center-left Labour Party to a landslide victory two years ago. But his personal approval ratings sank. Polls show voters believe he failed to deliver palpable change. He was also criticized for appointing Peter Mandelson, a close friend of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as British ambassador to Washington. Starmer later fired Mandelson.
After Labour lost seats to a populist anti-immigration party in May's local elections, more of Starmer's own lawmakers joined calls for his removal.
