Andy Burnham becomes new Labour leader
He's officially the new Labour leader, but not yet the Prime Minister
Last updated 11 hours ago
Andy Burnham is officially the new leader of the Labour Party.
He's promised to be “unashamedly Labour” and vowed to give people “hope back” and “the Labour they once knew” as he officially became the party’s new leader, before taking over from Sir Keir Starmer as prime minister next week.
The former Greater Manchester mayor, who returned to Westminster last month as Makerfield MP, was confirmed as Labour leader in a special conference.
Shortly before his speech on Friday, Mr Burnham said the next few days would be about “more than changing who governs Britain”. “They’re about changing how Britain is governed,” he said on X.
“This is our chance to put power back where it belongs.”
Mr Burnham was the only candidate to get the required support to replace Sir Keir as party leader after his resignation.
He was backed by 379 of the party’s 403 MPs, far surpassing the 81 needed, and secured the support of eight of the 11 unions affiliated with the party.
Andy Burnham's first speech as Labour leader
In his acceptance speech, Mr Burnham said he would offer “hope” and an end to factionalism in the party.
He said the Labour movement which backed him “heard the call from the people of Makerfield on behalf of forgotten places everywhere up and down this country for a return of the Labour they once knew.”
“And now we answer that call,” he said.
“We will be that version of Labour again.”
He continued: “We are united and we put the power that comes from that unity at the service of people and places who have been waiting too long for politics to let them hope again.
“That’s what we’re going to do, everybody. We’re going to give them hope back.”
Mr Burnham, who stood in the by-election with the intention of ousting the Prime Minister, said he wanted to eradicate “infighting”, the “insidious briefing culture” and the “factionalism” that has “bedevilled” the party.
Insisting he had “supported all our Labour leaders in my lifetime”, the new leader said: “We won’t beat Britain’s new right if we are consumed by infighting and pulling in different directions. That is, and always has been, an indulgence that falls heaviest on the people who need Labour most.”
Mr Burnham said he would seek more cross-party consensus, saying that could make political discourse “that little bit less toxic”.
He pledged to “set a direction that is distinctively Labour”, adding: “We won’t try to outgreen the Greens or out-Reform Reform, or doing what we’ve done in the past of wearing too many Tory clothes.”
Mr Burnham will enter No 10 Downing Street on Monday to become the UK’s seventh prime minister in a decade, with all eyes on his policy agenda and who he will appoint to his Cabinet.
The new Labour leader said his top team would include all parts of the party.
Amid rife speculation about the make-up of his Cabinet, Mr Burnham said: “I haven’t made any decisions yet about who will be in that top team, but I will soon, and when I have, you will see it reflects all parts of our party, all communities, and it will reflect your own place within this great party of ours – a stronger, more united Labour Party lifting up a stronger and more united Britain.”