Andy Burnham sworn in as MP for Makerfield
Lindsay Hoyle says, in a particularly loud voice, ‘we now come to Andy Burnham, member for Makerfield.”
There is a heckle from Desmond Swayne.
And Burnham takes the oath.
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Farage condemns Burnham as ‘another professional politician’
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Badenoch claims Starmer having to resign because he ‘failed on national security’
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Mark Carney says ‘world is safer and allies more united’ because of work done by Starmer
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Anas Sarwar says Labour in ‘fight of our lives’ to beat Reform UK, as he declines to openly back Burnham for leader
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Starmer played ‘significant role’ resetting Irish-British relationship, says Irish PM Micheál Martin
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Labour MPs turn out en masse for photocall with Burnham in Westminster Hall
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UK-EU summit scheduled for 22 July postponed to allow new PM more time to prepare
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Andy Burnham sworn in as MP for Makerfield
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How Burnham dodged most of the press pack as he arrived at Euston
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Zelenskyy thanks Starmer for his support, and says he will always be ‘welcome guest in Ukraine’
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Burnham brushes aside question about his call for general election when Boris Johnson replaced as PM in 2022
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Starmer wrong to claim credit in resignation speech for ending austerity, says NEU teachers’ union leader
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Will Starmer stay on as MP for Holborn and St Pancras?
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Corbyn’s Your Party says Starmer ‘failed to stand up for working people, criminalised protest and aided Israel’s crimes in Gaza’
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Von der Leyen thanks Starmer, saying ‘European and Ukrainian security stronger because of you’
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Streeting says Burnham committed to ‘inclusive party that draws on best of our political traditions’
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Streeting says he won’t challenge for leadership, suggesting Burnham on course to become PM without contest
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Burnham confirms he will be candidate to replace Starmer, saying transition should be ‘positive process of renewal’
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‘Turmoil in Westminster’ making it harder for Welsh government to engage with UK PM, says Rhun ap Iorwerth
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Attorney general Lord Hermer says he does not think Starmer angry about his situation
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Australian PM Anthony Albanese pays tribute to Starmer saying he can be ‘proud’ of his contribution to UK
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Zack Polanski says Burnham’s recent policy talk ‘not encouraging’, and that as PM he ‘must be bold’
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Farage calls for general election
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How Burnham could become PM around 17 July
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What Starmer said about his achievements as PM
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Starmer ends speech saying he will leave ‘biggest job in country’ to spend more time on ‘most important job’, as dad and husband
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Starmer says new PM to take over mid July if Burnham unopposed, or by end of August if there’s election
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Starmer says he accepts ‘with good grace’ that he is not best person to lead Labour into next election
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Starmer confirms he is resigning
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Starmer says he proved his critics wrong
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Starmer says becoming PM two years ago proudest moment of his life
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Gus O’Donnell questions whether political turmoil linked to PMs being constrained by manifesto promises
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Starmer will put ‘interests of British people’ first in any decision he takes, says education minister Jacqui Smith
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Keir Starmer expected to announce exit timetable
The Guardian’s Lucy Hough speaks to senior political correspondent Peter Walker on the latest Today In Focus about today’s happenings:
The latest edition of the Guardian’s Politics Weekly UK podcast is out. It features Pippa Crerar and Kiran Stacey talking about Keir Starmer’s resignation.
That’s all from me for today. Vivian Ho is taking over now.
Keir Starmer gave a private speech to No 10, after his public resignation announcement, thanking them for their work, Emilio Casalicchio and Noah Keate report in their London Playbook PM briefing. They say:
Once the door was closed, Starmer made another speech thanking staff — in particular those who have been there from the start. He said the super-human effort, moments of kindness and extra hours worked were all for the good of the nation and had been noted and appreciated. “It will make a difference to people who you will never meet, who will never know what you did,” he told them, according to one paraphrased account that others confirmed. “That’s what really matters.” He also thanked those who worked in the building to look after his wife and kids, and spent time talking to people one-on-one in the garden over teas and coffees.
Farage condemns Burnham as ‘another professional politician’
The JL Partners polling explains why Reform UK is so alarmed about the prospect of Andy Burnham becoming PM. (See 5.01pm.) In a statement issued earlier, Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, said:
I’ve had enough of waiting around. Britain needs change – real change, not another washed-up has-been shoved into place by the uniparty.
If Labour thinks it can shove another professional politician into No 10, it has another thing coming. Reform is ready for an election, and we are ready to deliver radical change.
It’s a bit rich for Farage to criticise Burnham as a “professional politician”. Farage himself was first elected as a parliamentarian (an MEP) in 1999, two years before Burnham was first elected as an MP. And “bit rich” is an understatement when it comes to describing how much Farage himself now earns from second jobs linked to the celebrity he has achieved as politician.
Last week Deltapoll published some polling suggesting that, with Labour led by Keir Starmer, Reform UK would be 8 points ahead of Labour in an election, but with Andy Burnham leading the government instead, Reform’s lead would be just 1 point.
Today another polling company, JL Partners, has released polling suggesting that people think Reform UK would win an election with an 18-point lead if Starmer were leader, but that with Burnham as leader they think Labour would be on course for a 2-point win.
UPDATE: The JL Partners figures are not from a voting intention poll (how people would vote); they are from a poll of what people would expect the result to be, which is different. I have changed the language in the second paragraph to make that clear.
Jonathan Freedland has an excellent account of where it all went wrong for Keir Starmer. Here is an extract.
Perhaps there was a time when voters would have given a newly elected PM a few years to turn things around, but those days are long gone. The electorate is impatient now, demanding almost instant results. That process has been intensified and accelerated by social media, which does not merely put the worst possible gloss on the actions and motives of those in its sights, but distorts public figures out of all recognition. Labour canvassers for the May elections were shocked to find voters who were not just disappointed in Starmer but harboured a visceral loathing for him – who saw him in almost demonic terms. They were reacting to an invention untethered to reality, but one pushed and promoted by Elon Musk and his X platform especially.
Given all that he faced, historians might be impressed with what Starmer achieved. In his resignation speech, he highlighted his transformation of the Labour party, the fall in NHS waiting lists and the lifting of half a million children out of poverty, along with a raft of workers’ and renters’ rights that, say Starmer’s advocates, sits at the centre of a record of progressive accomplishment that bears comparison to the first two years of the 1945 government. They also credit Starmer with boosting Britain’s standing on the world stage, the canny statecraft that kept Donald Trump’s US engaged on Ukraine and which kept the UK out of Trump’s doomed war with Iran – a decision that takes its place alongside that of Starmer’s hero, Harold Wilson, to abstain from the war in Vietnam. At all this, say Starmer’s friends, he was brilliantly adept. But, sighs one, “This is not an age of substance, it’s an age of sheen – and he was just not very good at that.”
And here is the full article.
A reader asks:
Is there any realistic possibility that Keir Starmer might be offered a ministerial post in an Andy Burnham government? There was some speculation a while back that Burnham might ask him to be Foreign Secretary, for example. His legal background might also make him a good Attorney General, or perhaps even Justice Secretary.
Short answer: No.
There is precedent for a former PM coming back to serve as foreign secretary. Alec Douglas-Home did that, as did David Cameron.
But I can’t think of any precedent, at least in modern history, for someone stepping down as PM one week and then turning up to cabinet the following week in a more junior role. There is far too much bitterness between Keir Starmer and Andy Burnham to imagine that happening; even if there wasn’t, you might imagine that an ex-PM would want time to adjust to their reduced status before rejoining the cabinet.
Cameron resigned in 2016 and did not become foreign secretary until 2023. Douglas-Home lost an election in 1964 and did not become foreign secretary until 1970. He did become shadow foreign secretary in 1965, when Ted Heath replaced him as leader. But there was no particular animus between them; Douglas-Home had not been forced out. And, in those days, a shadow cabinet job was more part-time than it is now.
Badenoch claims Starmer having to resign because he ‘failed on national security’
In the Commons Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, has been responding to David Lammy’s statement about last week’s G7 summit. She criticised Andy Burnham for not being present himself, claiming he was “more interested in his leadership bid than Britain’s national security”.
She went on:
If (Burnham) becomes prime minister, he will be briefed by the heads of our military about Britain’s reducing ability to defend herself, let alone Ukraine.
In order to fund defence, we need more money, not more speeches at summits. He will find that Britain is not able to borrow any more money. He will find that it has all been spent on welfare. He will realise that this government is providing export finance to rebuild Ukraine’s energy system while crippling our own, reducing sanctions on Russian oil while sanctioning oil from Aberdeen.
She accused Labour MPs of “living in La-La Land” on defence. And she went on:
The prime minister is resigning because he failed on national security. He appointed a known security risk as our ambassador to Washington. He is destroying our energy security, which is national security, and he is refusing to fund the defence investment plan needed to keep our country safe.
Responding to Badenoch, David Lammy, the deputy PM, sarcastically thanked the Tory leader for her “generosity and constructive suggestions” and said Starmer had left the UK “stronger and fairer” than it was before.
A reader asks:
@Andrew: Can Lucy Powell remain deputy leader if Burnham becomes leader?
I presume not, which probably means she will be given a cabinet role in exchange, right?
She can. In fact, she must. Lucy Powell is the only Labour MP with a senior post who is elected to her role, and that means she cannot be sacked. She is also a fellow north-west MP who is a friend of Andy Burnham’s, and so her prospects are looking good. One theory is that she could be appointed deputy PM – or co-deputy PM, if Burnham decides to keep David Lammy in post.
Momentum, the leftwing Labour group set up to promote Jeremy Corbyn’s agenda when he was leader, has welcomed Keir Starmer’s resignation. Its co-chair Alex Charilaou said:
We welcome Keir Starmer’s resignation as prime minister. His government has failed to deliver real change, attacked party democracy, failed to shift power in the economy to working people and refused to unequivocally condemn the genocide in Gaza.
Mark Carney says ‘world is safer and allies more united’ because of work done by Starmer
Mark Carney, the Canadian prime minister, has offered this tribute to Keir Starmer.
It has been a privilege to work alongside Sir Keir Starmer as he has led international efforts to support Ukraine through the Coalition of the Willing, strengthen Nato, improve Arctic cooperation, and deepen the historic partnership between Canada and the United Kingdom.
Throughout, and in the face of exceptional challenges, Keir has acted with principle, determination, and collaboration. The world is safer and allies are more united because of his efforts.
Keir, thank you for your lifetime of public service. I am grateful for your friendship, and I wish you all the best as you concentrate on your “most important job.”
Anas Sarwar says Labour in ‘fight of our lives’ to beat Reform UK, as he declines to openly back Burnham for leader
Severin Carrell
Severin Carrell is the Guardian’s Scotland editor.
Anas Sarwar has refused to openly endorse Andy Burnham as the next leader of the UK Labour party and said the party’s greatest challenge is to comprehensively defeat Nigel Farage and Reform.
The Scottish Labour leader rebuffed questions about whether he is angry that Keir Starmer had taken until now to resign as prime minister, given his calls for Starmer to quit in February after the Scottish party’s polling support plummeted.
Many senior party figures in Scotland, including Sarwar, blame Starmer for consigning Scottish Labour to its worst result since devolution, winning only 17 of Holyrood’s 129 seats and tying for second with Reform UK.
Speaking to reporters in Glasgow, Sarwar said Labour was “in the fight of our lives” to defeat the “poison of Reform”; that was the “biggest challenge” facing the next prime minister, he said.
Do I wish we had a different outcome at the Scottish elections? Of course, I do, but we live with the reality of that election result, and we’ve got to hold the Scottish government to account over the course of the next five years.
He insisted Starmer should now be recognised as “a man of integrity” who had changed the Labour party, defeated the Tories in a landslide election, ended austerity and secured shipbuilding on the Clyde for a generation.
After confirming he would like Glasgow to replicate Manchester’s successes with regeneration under Burnham, he refused to endorse Burnham’s candidacy and said he would challenge anyone who stood to be UK leader to deliver “meaningful outcomes” for Scotland and the UK.
We all feel it. There is a lack of hope in this country, and there is a disengagement and a disenfranchisement across the country, and I think that is actually quite a dangerous and difficult point I think for our democracy and also for our country.
And I think fundamentally what we need to see over the next period is a politics that gives hope back to people, brings heart back into our politics, and ultimately takes on that big fight.
I can’t emphasize this enough, I honestly believe that we are in the fight of our lives, and I think this is bigger than just the existential reason for the Labour party. I think this is going to be a period where we are fighting for the heart and soul of our country, and Labour has to make sure it’s making that fight with heart and with soul.
Jessica Elgot
Jessica Elgot is the Guardian’s deputy political editor.
The chancellor Rachel Reeves was in Westminster Hall to greet Andy Burnham – though she was not present outside No 10 for Keir Starmer’s resignation as prime minister this morning.
Greeting Burnham after he was sworn in as an MP were a slew of cabinet ministers – including the chief whip Jonathan Reynolds and the energy secretary Ed Miliband – who came in flanked by two Treasury ministers, Torsten Bell and Dan Tomlinson.
Around 200 MPs were in the hall to greet Burnham, now officially the MP for Makerfield. He arrived with Lucy Powell, the deputy Labour leader and the MP Jo Platt – who holds Burnham’s old constituency of Leigh.
But there were Starmer loyalists there too – including the communities secretary Steve Reed – as well Wes Streeting who has newly endorsed Burnham for leader.
Starmer played ‘significant role’ resetting Irish-British relationship, says Irish PM Micheál Martin
Micheál Martin, the taoiseach (Irish PM), has paid this tribute to Keir Starmer.
I want to acknowledge the significant role Keir played in resetting the Irish-British relationship as well as relations between the UK and the European Union during his time as prime minister.
Since Keir took office two years ago, he has worked with us to set a new direction and depth in the relationship between Ireland and the UK, for the benefit of all our citizens, north-south and east-west.
Our two governments also took an important step forward in dealing with the legacy of the past in Northern Ireland publishing a joint framework on addressing the legacy of the Troubles.
Labour MPs turn out en masse for photocall with Burnham in Westminster Hall
Labour MPs turned up en masse in Westminster Hall to pose for photographs with Andy Burnham. Nick Eardley from the BBC reckons there were about 200 Labour MPs there – that is about half the PLP – including ministers and the chief whip.
Given that anyone wanting to stand against Burnham would need the support of 81 MPs, we have probably got to the point where we can say for certain that Burnham is going to be elected unopposed.
Photograph: Yui Mok/PA
Here is video of Andy Burnham being sworn in.
UK-EU summit scheduled for 22 July postponed to allow new PM more time to prepare
Jennifer Rankin
Jennifer Rankin is the Guardian’s Brusssels correspondent.
European leaders have paid tribute to Keir Starmer after he announced his resignation as prime minister, triggering the postponement of an upcoming EU-UK summit.
European Council president António Costa said “for sure we need to postpone it, but we are reassessing the opportunity to hold this new summit.”
He added: “My wish is that his successor will give continuity on this path to reset our relationship with the UK.”
Soon after Starmer’s resignation speech at Number 10, the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tweeted: “It can take many leaders years to grow into the statesman you became in just two years. European and Ukrainian security is stronger because of you. Thank you, dear Keir.”
The annual EU-UK summit was announced for 22 July only last week, after weeks of uncertainty and delay. With the most likely next UK prime minister, Andy Burnham, unlikely to face a contest, Starmer’s last outing on the world stage could be the Nato summit in Ankara on 7-8 July.
And while we are talking about miracles and Andy Burnham taking the oath, Tom Peck from the Times has spotted another.
BREAKING: Andy Burnham owns a tie.
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