As it happened- Burnham becomes PM and cabinet reshuffle - BBC News

It's Monday morning and it's a big day in Westminster. We're about to change Prime Minister. Sir Keir Starmer's leaving and Andy Burnham's taking over. And we're going to take you behind the scenes. It's a bit busier than normal. The world's media are here for the handover. As you can see, there's a big queue just to get into Downing Street. We are up the end of Downing Street. This is where all the BBC radio points are. If you look down this way, you can see broadcasters from around the world. That's Keir Starmer's lectern out. These lecterns have become a big part of the story of these days. Still a big question about whether Andy Burnham will actually have one. This is a really big moment. It's just two years since Labour won that comfortable general election victory. At that point, it seemed like Keir Starmer was going to be in the job for a long time. He'd talked about two terms, 10 years in power. Here we are today and he's leaving. It is a big moment to change Prime Minister. And this is happening more and more. Andy Burnham is about to become the seventh Prime Minister in just over a decade. I've been here in Downing Street for quite a few of these handovers now. Larry the cat is one of the few things that stayed the same here. When Keir Starmer became Prime Minister, lots of his supporters were here waving flags on Downing Street. And a lot of them are here again today to wave them off. Here are some more of Keir Starmer's supporters coming out of 11 Downing Street, including some of his political staff. One of the brutal things about days like this is they will lose their jobs when Keir Starmer stands down as Prime Minister. They'll go back into number 11 after his speech, but then they'll have to leave through the back door so the new team can come in for Andy Burnham. There were some questions raised when Keir Starmer announced his resignation that the Chancellor didn't bother to come down from number 11 to watch. She is here today. There's no shortage of people here to show their support for Sir Keir Starmer. Senior people in the Labour Party, there's Sir Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London. Cabinet Ministers are here as well. It's worth remembering that although he's being booted out, there are a lot of people in the Labour Party who still really rate Keir Starmer, not least for taking Labour from opposition back into power. I'm about to visit His Majesty the King to offer my resignation. So as I now pass the baton to Andy Burnham, I wish him every success. He has my full support and I go proud of everything that we have achieved. Thank you very much. Well, there we go. That's the end of the Keir Starmer era. In that speech, he tried to set out a legacy to say, here's all the things that I think I've achieved in power. It was striking he also said, I'm leaving with a smile. He wants to put a positive gloss on this and say, look, I get it. It's time to move on. Remember, though, it's just a few weeks ago that he really wanted to stay here. He's been forced from office by his party. But he's now off to Buckingham Palace to see the King and formally resign. Keir Starmer, as you see the car there in this convoy, the police before and after, now making his way into the area just in front of the palace. And we have now the official picture of Keir Starmer tendering his resignation. So it's just coming up for midday. We've just seen the pictures from Buckingham Palace of Keir Starmer meeting the King. Here in Downing Street, everybody's waiting for the new guy. Some of the staff in there will be moving out their things, going out the back door to let the new staff in. There are hundreds of people here today. This isn't normally here. They built this just for the changeover of prime ministers. And some good news. There's a toilet if you've got a special pass. This is a slightly strange period where there isn't a prime minister in Downing Street. We've got a TV here so we can keep up with everything that's going on. Andy Burnham has arrived at Buckingham Palace to meet the King. The ceremony is officially called the Kissing of the Hands. They don't actually kiss the King's hands though. So for now, we're just waiting. I must admit, I've screwed up certainly today because I forgot all my snacks. Here he is, Glybalton leading out the new prime minister and his wife, Andy Burnham, If you want a visual representation of what's going on in Downing Street today, here it is. Keir Starmer's supporters have all left. Now there are dozens and dozens of Andy Burnham's backers in Downing Street. And have a look in the middle there. There's no lectern. There's two microphones instead. It looks like Andy Burnham's going to be the first prime minister in some time not to have that lectern when he arrives in Downing Street. Here we go. Andy Burnham has just arrived in Downing Street from Buckingham Palace. He's about to walk up the street and give us the most important speech of his life. What a few weeks this has been for Andy Burnham. Remember, until that in-acre field by-election, he wasn't even a member of parliament. Now he's about to walk into number 10 as prime minister. I have just come from Buckingham Palace where I have accepted His Majesty the King's invitation to form a government. Help people to live well. Building a more preventative state. Investing in people's success rather than paying for failure. And that work starts now. I will soon go through that door behind me and issue my first instruction to end rough sleeping in our country. Let's build a new national sense of unity, of common purpose and positivity. Let us make this the moment when Britain starts to believe again. The moment we bring back hope. Thank you very much everybody. There we have it then. The vision from the new prime minister. Some bold promises in there. Talking about changing the country. Talking about a decade plan to get Britain back on track. You can tell that Andy Burnham wants to be seen as a different sort of prime minister. He's talked about changing the economic model that we've been used to since the 1918s. Neoliberalism, as he calls it. He spoke there without any notes. I've not seen that in Downing Street over the last few years. He's also talked about not always wearing a shirt and tie. That would be a bit different too. And that sort of thing matters because Andy Burnham wants to try and appeal to normal people and say, I'm a bit like you. While we wait for the cabinet, I've just heard that Andy Burnham has made his first phone call to a foreign leader. It was to the US president Donald Trump. He'll also be getting briefings from senior civil servants about some of the big decisions he's going to have to make right away. And he pulls out the letters of last resort, which is instructions about what to do in the event of a nuclear attack. Ministers don't come here to Downing Street to be sacked, but there are big changes happening. The first one's in there, number 11 Downing Street. The chancellor, Rachel Weaves, is out of government. So is the deputy prime minister, David Lammy, and others. The business secretary, Peter Kyle, and the housing secretary, Steve Reid. Things are starting to get busy here now. Ed Miliband and Shabana Mahmood have both arrived for the cabinet appointments. Well, this one was a bit of a surprise. John Healey is the new chancellor. He was not one of the favourites. You might remember he quit as defence secretary because the last chancellor wouldn't give him enough money. Plenty of cabinet jobs still to be appointed, but Andy Burnham is now prime minister. The new government is taking shape.