Andy Burnham will officially become leader of Britain’s governing Labour Party on Friday, clearing his final hurdle to taking office as prime minister next week.
The center-left party will announce the result of a leadership contest to replace departing Prime Minister Keir Starmer, in which Burnham was the only contender. He had secured nominations from 379 of the 403 Labour lawmakers in the House of Commons as of Thursday night.
Burnham, the former mayor of Greater Manchester, has been prime minister-in-waiting for weeks, but he has revealed little detail about his policy priorities. After winning a special election for a seat in Parliament a month ago, he pledged to build a politics “based on unity and hope” and an economy that spreads growth evenly across the country.
