Andy Burnham will become the UK’s seventh prime minister in a decade when he succeeds Sir Keir Starmer and takes office today.
The former mayor of Greater Manchester returned to parliament in June after winning the Makerfield by-election and promised to set a “new direction” for the UK, with an outpost of 10 Downing Street based in Manchester to drive his plans to “rewire” the British state through a political project built around devolution.