Keir Starmer’s likely successor Andy Burnham faces ‘a terrible inheritance’

Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced his resignation on Monday, one day before the tenth anniversary of the Brexit vote. Since the Brexit vote, Britain has had a succession of six prime ministers, starting with David Cameron. The next guy will be the seventh post-Brexit, and that’s important because Brexit is basically the reason why no one can stay in office in the UK. It really was Britain shooting itself in the foot then blaming everyone else because they can’t walk now. Well, in any case, Labour is already looking ahead to their post-Starmer era. They believe their new guy will get it done – this is Andy Burnham, and many people want Starmer to step aside sooner than September so that Burnham can be their new PM.

When Andy Burnham arrived in Parliament on Monday as the Labour Party’s great hope for political redemption, the only thing missing was the white steed. The former mayor of Greater Manchester swept into the chamber for his swearing-in with the flourish and charisma that his fellow party members are praying will deliver them from electoral disaster. He took a selfie with hundreds of his new colleagues behind him, everyone beaming at the change they hope is coming.

It now appears almost certain that Mr. Burnham will succeed Prime Minister Keir Starmer after other potential rivals stood down and endorsed him on Monday. In Westminster, the home of Parliament, Mr. Burnham is already being treated as the prime minister apparent.

But if Mr. Burnham is that successor, he will soon preside over a government that faces all the same challenges that prematurely ended Mr. Starmer’s premiership after less than two politically grueling years. They include a sagging economy, chronically underinvested public services, an increasingly powerful populist movement and the never-ending challenge of dealing with President Trump.

“There are no good choices being faced by this incoming government — it’s a terrible inheritance,” said Luke Sullivan, who was Mr. Starmer’s political director before he became prime minister. “The major structural problems that face the U.K., the major global and international security headlines that face the U.K., aren’t going to change. He’s got a chance. But the path he’s going to have to tread, and the needle he’s going to have to thread to deliver — it is incredible.”

Notably, Mr. Starmer’s resignation came the day before Tuesday’s 10-year anniversary of the divisive Brexit referendum on June 23, 2016, when a slim majority of Britons voted to leave the European Union. Mr. Burnham is poised to become Britain’s seventh prime minister since that decision, which has continued to have consequences ever since.

Perhaps no issue has bedeviled Mr. Starmer more in his two years than the economic sluggishness that many economic experts attribute in part to slow growth because of Britain’s self-imposed isolation. That sluggishness has left many Britons frustrated with their wages, the cost of living and their overall quality of life.

[From The NY Times]

“A terrible inheritance” is a perfect Britishism. It works really well in this case too – they’re looking at Burnham as someone Starmer-like but without Starmer’s baggage and scandal, but the sad truth is that the Brexit bell cannot be un-rung. Starmer actually tried to bring the UK closer to Europe, and I imagine that’s on Burnham’s agenda too. Anyway, I love all of the tweets about how Britain doesn’t have a prime minister, a Doctor Who or a James Bond right now. It’s like when Pope Francis died when there was no sitting Archbishop of Canterbury. History is being made all over the place.

Is this the first time the UK’s been looking for a new Prime Minister, James Bond and Doctor Who at the same time

— Doinkadect Klomberbatch (@Doinkadect) June 22, 2026

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.