We’ve been here before.
The UK has its seventh Prime Minister in a decade as Andy Burnham arrives at Buckingham Palace to greet King Charles III and be sworn in.
The former Greater Manchester Mayor has had an odd coronation, running unopposed to be leader of the Labour Party after his predecessor Keir Starmer stepped down amid dreadful poll ratings, a poor set of local election results and scandal involving former U.S. ambassador Peter Mandelson and Jeffrey Epstein. Starmer delivered his final speech before resigning this morning.
Burnham officially became Labour leader on Friday and Prime Minister today, which is ratified when he meets the King. Once he meets Charles III and is invited to form a government, he will give a speech outside his new 10 Downing Street home. The 56-year-old has been a well-known face in British politics for 20 years. He was Culture Secretary then Health Secretary in the Labour government of the late 2000s before twice unsuccesfully running to be Labour leader last decade.
His near-decade run as Greater Manchester mayor led his popularity to soar owing to a set of popular policies, which he says he will attempt to roll out nationally, and he is widely seen as being far more charismatic than Starmer. He was a vocal backer of Greater Manchester’s successful bid to host the Edinburgh TV Festival, saying it would “open a new chapter defined by the unmistakable character that only Greater Manchester can bring.” Greater Manchester also houses the city of Salford, home to thousands of BBC employees after what is broadly viewed as one of the most successful out-of-London relocations the nation has ever seen.
Burnham’s in-tray is bulging as he moves into 10 Downing Street and he is set to pick his cabinet this afternoon, with the country facing a wealth of enormous challenges. Incredibly for a nation that is only supposed to have two per decade, he is the seventh Prime Minister in 10 years, the majority of whom have stood down rather than lost elections. His recent predecessors include Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss.
New Culture Sec
The film and TV industry will be keeping an extremely close eye on Burnham’s pick for Culture Sec. Lisa Nandy, current incumbent and a close Burnham ally, is reportedly leaving the role to run his new “super ministry” in the north of England.
Nandy is in the process of making some seriously big decisions, one being whether to intervene in Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery’s $110B merger, which won’t now be decided until early September.
Another is the future funding model of the BBC. Nandy recently signaled her backing for a plan to revamp the BBC license fee so that streaming sevice subscribers have to pay the £180 ($240) annual charge.
Other policy priorities include new legislation that would compel YouTube and TikTok to promote public service content from the BBC and other broadcasters.
The result of all these decisions could make Nandy’s successor rather unpopular in various circles across the pond.
