Andy Burnham, Britain's 7th PM in 10 years, promises stability, national sense of unity
It's a case of third time lucky for the 56-year-old former mayor of Greater Manchester, who made it to the top job after two failed attempts in 2010 and 2015
London, Jul 20 (PTI) Andy Burnham began his tenure as the UK's new Prime Minister on Monday with an acknowledgement of the political instability that brought him to the famous black door of 10 Downing Street as the country's seventh leader in a decade.
“I am acutely conscious that I am the sixth person in the last 10 years to walk up this street, the seventh Prime Minister since 2016, making this a moment for reflection and new resolution," Burnham admitted in his inaugural address to the nation as PM soon after a customary meeting with King Charles III.
“It requires my generation of politicians to raise our game and rise to the new challenge. Britain needs to show the world that we can regain our stability once again, and that is our challenge, to make politics work, to make it work better... Let’s build a new national sense of unity, of common purpose, and positivity,” he declared.
As a visual nod to his pledge to do things differently, the new leader spoke extempore and without the traditional lectern that has been a quintessential feature of prime ministerial speeches at Downing Street over the years.
“I know people at home are fed up with politics. I hear you, and I want to be honest with you, we have not been good enough, and we need to be better. We will be," he said.
The speech touched upon some of the central tenets of his leadership, with devolution of power to the regions of the country and tackling the cost-of-living crisis at the core.
"We will take power out of here and carry it into every postcode in the land so that they can do more. And in doing more, build a new economy, where we put life’s essentials back under stronger public control to make them affordable to you again,” pledged Burnham.
This week marks a case of third time lucky for the 56-year-old former mayor of Greater Manchester, who finally made it to the top job after two failed attempts in 2010 and 2015.
As someone who led a major delegation to India in 2019 in his previous avatar, Burnham’s commitment to growing the region’s ties with India is expected to translate at the national level too.
“India is a key market in Greater Manchester’s internationalisation strategy as it presents significant opportunities to the city-region, but these opportunities are mutual, and Greater Manchester is also helping India with its own economic growth plans," he said at the time.
The former mayor returned to Westminster politics last month by winning a by-election at Makerfield in northern England, pitched as illustrative of his leadership ability to counter the growing threat posed by the far-right Reform UK.
Promising a new "10-year plan" in his maiden speech, the incoming PM is clearly hoping for multiple terms in office by giving the new job his all until the next general election expected by 2029.
As a University of Cambridge graduate born to a telephone engineer father and general practitioner (GP) surgery receptionist mother in Merseyside, north-west England, Burnham grew up in Cheshire, bordering Wales.
He entered politics as a researcher and special adviser to a Labour veteran and went on to win his first general election as a member of Parliament for Leigh in Greater Manchester in 2001.
Emerging as one of the promising young parliamentarians under prime minister Tony Blair, it was in successor Gordon Brown’s Cabinet that he made his mark with quick promotions from Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Culture Secretary to Health Secretary.
With Labour’s loss at the 2010 general election after his first failed attempt at the top job, he served in the shadow cabinet of Ed Miliband and then, in 2015, lost out to Jeremy Corbyn in the leadership race before his mayoral bid led to his resignation as an MP in 2017.
After being elected in Manchester, he became known as the “King of the North”, a reference to the American fantasy drama ‘Game of Thrones, and was seen as biding his time to make a third play for the Labour leadership, which he won unopposed last week.
His Dutch-born wife, Marie-France van Heel, and three children in their 20s – Jimmy, Rosie and Anne-Marie – are expected to divide their time between London and northern England, given Burnham’s proposal for a “No. 10 North” to ensure power is not concentrated only at No. 10 Downing Street. PTI