When does Andy Burnham become prime minister?
Burnham became Labour leader on Friday – but he will not become prime minister until Monday, three days later.
The process on Monday will begin with Sir Keir meeting King Charles to formally offer his resignation as prime minister.
The King will meet Burnham soon afterwards, when he will ask him to form a government. Once Burnham has accepted, he will officially be the UK’s prime minister.
Both meetings usually happen at Buckingham Palace.
Burnham will then head to Downing Street, where he is likely to give a speech outside No 10.
Burnham promises to ‘bring back hope’ as he becomes Labour leader
How did he get here?
Sir Keir won a landslide general election victory two years ago – but he began losing public support within weeks of arriving in Downing Street after a series of policy mis-steps and U-turns.
The final straw for many Labour MPs was when right-wing party Reform UK swept the board at local elections in May, leaving many of them fearing Reform leader Nigel Farage would win the next general election.
Burnham had long had ambitions to be Labour leader – but could only challenge for the top job as a sitting MP.
He returned to Parliament a month ago in a by-election, with his victory over the Reform candidate convincing many Labour MPs he was the right candidate to replace Sir Keir.
Other senior Labour figures – such as former health secretary Wes Streeting – abandoned their own leadership ambitions and got behind Burnham, along with the overwhelming majority of the party’s MPs.
It has meant he has become the Labour leader without a contest.
In the UK, prime ministers are not directly elected, unlike US or French presidents – they are the leaders of the party with the most MPs in the House of Commons.
This means the UK can change prime ministers without an election – something that has happened with increasing frequency in recent years.
Burnham could call a general election when he takes over as prime minister, but appears to have ruled that out.
