As UK's Keir Starmer says farewell, his successor faces a 'colossal task'

You've been watching images there of UK Prime Minister, outgoing UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and his wife Victoria as they leave 10 Downing Street. He will then be taken by his driver to Buckingham Palace where he will meet King Charles and offer his resignation. And as you saw there on the steps of the Prime Ministerial residence were his Cabinet Ministers, his staffers and some good friends. Now with me in the studio is Rochelle Ferguson, our International Affairs Editor. A moving time and a moving speech for a man who struggles, I think, with showing emotion. Absolutely. You can imagine, Annette, that this was an emotional day for Keir Starmer there as handed over the reins to what will be the British Prime Minister day, Andy Burnham. An emotional time, a farewell to the British public from Keir Starmer but also Keir Starmer wanting to remind British people of what Labour has achieved under him. So he spoke about Britain being stronger, fairer, a stronger economy. He made reference to these NHS waiting times that have gone down substantially under Keir Starmer. Incidentally, that's exactly the same tribute that was paid to him by Andy Burnham in his speech on Friday, saluting that record there when it comes to the NHS. And also Keir Starmer didn't leave without reminding us that Britain's reputation on the international stage is brighter. Certainly if you think about in relation to Ukraine, we know that Keir Starmer was there just last week as his final visit as Prime Minister of the UK. So as you say, a moving moment, a message to Andy Burnham, one of bienveillance, I suppose the French would say, of kindness, wishing him the best and saying that politics is a team sport. And a similar echoing of what we heard from Andy Burnham on Friday, very much this distinctly Labour approach that we need to be united, we need to be hopeful and get politics back on track. Now, let's turn our attention to the man who's coming in to take over his job, Andy Burnham. What are his biggest strengths and potential weaknesses as Prime Minister? I think if we start off with weaknesses, certainly one of his critics will be saying, if you think of the head of the Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch has said, you know, he's run away from media attention. He hasn't really given enough interviews and shown that he is media savvy. And to that, Andy Burnham responded, look, I answered to 74,000 people in Makefield recently. I think I've had enough media attention for now. Let me get to grips with becoming Prime Minister. I think weaknesses, another one people will say, well, actually, it's far different from, you know, being mayor of Greater Manchester to coming to Westminster and, you know, being at the reins at Whitehall. Perhaps he doesn't have the experience for that. I wonder whether, you know, the strengths that you gain as being, you know, a minister under Blair, under Gordon Brown, and then effectively taking it out to the wider UK public. I wonder if those skills won't eventually be a strength. I mean, as a mayor, let's think about it. You've got to make something out of nothing. You're often struggling in terms of funds. You've got to deal with potholes. You've got to deal with potholes, absolutely. Council's going bankrupt. You're often, you know, struggling in budgetary terms. You have to be a great communicator. Let's remember, Andy Burnham heading to Japan recently to ask, you know, a company there to finance a smaller company within his region. So you have to build good relationships. And I think that could be a strength that takes him forward in this job. And also, as a mayor, you're elected. And so you're used to, when things go wrong, people are blaming you. And that has to be said, is a key thing that you need to be a prime minister. People are going to blame you if things are going wrong. You have to have the shoulders to hold that. What will be his first policy priorities? Well, I mean, another criticism. You've asked me about weaknesses. People have said, you know, it's not clear where his policies will go off the outset. You and I spoke earlier about the domestic challenges, about the cost of living, about Britain's wanting to have, you know, more for their money, to be able to live more comfortably. Ultimately, we know that transport prices are off through the roof. We know that energy prices are also a point of contention with the British public. But then, you know, there are other issues. There are also, you know, social care. I think Benedict mentioned that earlier. And the fact that, you know, as a minister under Brown, he spoke about this being a broken system that he wanted to fix. Of course, Labour lost the election in 2010. And therefore, you know, he wasn't able to go ahead with these policies. There's so much to do. And it feels like, you know, a colossal task to take the reins of the UK today.