Andy Burnham wants to lead the UK 'differently': how different can he be?

But first, promising to rewire the nation and focus on public services and the cost of living. The UK's seventh prime minister in a decade is getting ready to move into number 10 Downing Street. The former mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, has promised to rapidly raise living standards. In the last 20 minutes, outgoing Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer addressed his team, his staffers, members of his cabinet, along with family members as he exited Downing Street and is now in Buckingham Palace to offer his resignation to King Charles. Shortly afterwards, Andy Burnham will go to the palace and then the monarch will ask him to form a government. Let's take a listen to what Sir Keir had to say earlier. My work is done. In six and a half years, I took our party from a historic defeat in 2019, changed it so it was fit to face the country and won a landslide general election victory in 2024. Since then, it has been the privilege of my life to serve you and this great country as prime minister. And I am confident that Britain is now stronger and fairer than it was two years ago. Let's cross now to Benedict Paviot, who's in front of 10 Downing Street. Benedict, we know that the outgoing prime minister is currently with King Charles at Buckingham Palace. What happens next? Well, what happens next is that Keir Starmer, having given his resignation, the head of state, King Charles, then asked him who he thinks that he, the king, should appoint next to form a government, who is in a position to do so. And it will be no surprise that that name will be Andy Burnham. And what a spectacular rise Andy Burnham has had. Let's remember, he only just became a member of parliament, which is a prerequisite if you are to lead your party, the Labour Party, the governing party, with a great majority, one only. Let's remember, two years ago, we were in this very street greeting Keir Starmer. Now we've just seen him exit. And he trounced the candidate of the Reform UK party. And therefore, his party believes resoundingly that they must support him because he is a winner. He can reverse the dark polling against Reform UK that has been doing so well in the polls for the last 12 months. And looking at the latest polls, it looks like there is some movement there in favour of the Labour Party. So a moving speech by the outgoing prime minister, Keir Starmer, saying that it was a privilege to serve the country. He referred again to this expression that he used on Monday, the 22nd of June, when he announced, just after the resounding victory of Andy Burnham in Makefield, this expression, I leave with good grace. And he added then, with a smile, that he would pass on the baton to Andy Burnham, that he would support him, that he wished him every success, that he was leaving a legacy of a fairer country. And that is something, when you talk about rewiring, that Andy Burnham very much wants to show that he is going to do things differently. The question is, how differently can he do them, because he inherits all the same problems, no extra money, and will, in the end, although he wants to give a priority to his domestic agenda, for example, very much about helping people across the nation with the cost of living, really helping people also, an ongoing problem that lots of governments have been about to tackle and never have, social care. And he just revealed a few days ago that, indeed, his own father has got Alzheimer's. So he's got current knowledge of how the system works, or rather doesn't work, and is broken. So really, a very big agenda for this incoming prime minister at a challenging time. But in the end, will foreign news like the war in Iran, will that, in the end, actually also dominate some of the agenda here? Because there is an expression in English, events, dear boy. So we will see if he is buffeted, and if he, for example, will he continue the use by the US of military bases for defensive purposes. That will be an interesting one to watch. And what will his relationship, indeed, be with President Trump and with the US?