Andy Burnham formed his first Cabinet on July 20-21 after taking office as UK Prime Minister, making the surprise appointment of former Defence Secretary John Healey as Chancellor of the Exchequer, removing allies of predecessor Keir Starmer from government, and announcing the removal of VAT from domestic electricity bills from October as his first cost-of-living measure

Former Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham met King Charles III on Monday morning and was formally appointed Prime Minister, succeeding Keir Starmer; his office confirmed he will also scrap the outgoing government's digital ID scheme

The former Manchester Mayor and self-styled 'King of the North' was confirmed as Labour Party leader on July 17 and will succeed Keir Starmer as Britain's Prime Minister when he formally takes office on Monday, becoming the country's seventh leader in a decade.

Keir Starmer flew to Kyiv on July 16, in his final week as UK prime minister before Andy Burnham takes office, to meet President Volodymyr Zelensky and reaffirm British military and financial backing for Ukraine, calling Ukraine's resistance central to European security

Nominations formally opened on July 9 in the UK Labour Party contest to replace Keir Starmer as prime minister; Andy Burnham remained the sole declared candidate and is on course for a coronation that could take him to Downing Street this month

The Starmer government published its Defence Investment Plan on June 30, committing £298 billion over 2026-27 to 2029-30, averaging £3.8 billion per year above previous plans, with naval shipbuilding, long-range missiles and space as priority areas; IFS flagged that around £1.2 billion per year of the increase has no identified funding source

Merz, Macron, Meloni, Starmer and Tusk meet in Berlin to harden NATO's European pillar before Ankara, sidelining Madrid over the 5% target

Former Greater Manchester Mayor and three-time UK Cabinet minister, the sole declared candidate to lead UK Labour and become UK Prime Minister as of July 2026.

Eight heads of government commanding nuclear arsenals, G7 institutions, and the world's largest economies whose bilateral signals move markets and wars.

After winning Makerfield, Burnham is the sole declared candidate to succeed caretaker PM Starmer

Keir Starmer quit as UK Prime Minister on 22 June 2026 after losing his parliamentary party's confidence following dismal May local election results; Andy Burnham, who won the Makerfield by-election on 18 June to return to the Commons, is the sole declared candidate and is expected to take office by mid-July

Less than two years after a landslide, Keir Starmer resigns amid Reform UK's surge; Burnham is frontrunner; nominations open July 9

Two defence resignations on 11 June reframe the collapse as policy-driven, not just poll panic