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1708 headlines found — Page 19 of 143

The Guardian Politics20 Jul 2026

‘We need to be careful’: Andy Burnham’s team keenly aware of fiscal tightrope

Chancellor appointment and early policies avoid market meltdown but next week remains ‘moment of real peril’ UK politics live – latest updates Andy Burnham has not quite gone for Keir Starmer’s extreme caution in the run-up to entering No 10 – but he is certainly aware that any early wrong moves would cost him. Back in 2024, Starmer was criticised for his “Ming vase” strategy, where the leader treads very carefully so as not to drop a valuable metaphorical piece of china being carried across t

PoliticsEconomyDefence
The Guardian Politics20 Jul 2026

The Guardian view on Andy Burnham’s first day: the right vision, but time is of the essence | Editorial

Outside Downing Street, Britain’s new prime minister struck the right notes. Now he and his cabinet need to be brave A 1970s adage attributed to the former Tory chancellor Reginald Maudling maintained that Britain was essentially a Conservative country that sometimes voted Labour. That was always a questionable assertion, given the defining postwar role of Labour in shaping a fairer social settlement. But the trauma of successive election victories by Margaret Thatcher from 1979 onwards meant th

PoliticsDefence
The Guardian Politics20 Jul 2026

Andy Burnham’s first Labour cabinet: who’s in and who’s out?

From the Treasury to the Home Office, we look at who is heading up key departments in new PM’s government UK politics live – latest updates Burnham vows his arrival in power will be ‘circuit breaker’ moment for UK Six highlights from Andy Burnham’s first Downing Street speech Andy Burnham has appointed his first cabinet, with the new prime minister rewarding those who have been loyal to his takeover efforts. He had promised to pick his top team from all wings of the party in an effort to sho

PoliticsEconomyDefence
The Guardian Politics20 Jul 2026

Andy Burnham becomes Britain’s new prime minister – The Latest

Andy Burnham has become the sixth UK prime minister in a decade after a transfer of power from his predecessor Keir Starmer. In his first address outside Downing Street, he said his arrival in power would be a ‘circuit breaker’ moment for Britain and that his government would bring the ‘biggest changes in 40 years’. Lucy Hough speaks to political correspondent Alexandra Topping – watch on YouTube Continue reading...

Politics
The Guardian Politics20 Jul 2026

Burnham pledges to end rough sleeping in England in first speech as prime minister

Additional £340m over three years allocated to get people off the streets ‘at the earliest opportunity’ UK politics live – latest updates Andy Burnham has promised to end rough sleeping in England in his first pledge as prime minister, allocating an additional £340m over three years as he seeks to replicate the homelessness schemes he rolled out in Greater Manchester. Speaking in front of Downing Street immediately after becoming prime minister, Burnham said he would try to get people off the

Politics
The Guardian Politics20 Jul 2026

No tears from Keir as Burnham strolls into No 10 with the clock already ticking

Rapid turnover of prime ministers continues as UK gets another promise that, this time, things will be different UK politics live – latest updates Not another one. It would be no surprise to find out that overseas tour companies now include package holiday visits to watch the UK’s rapid turnover of prime ministers. “Come to London to watch the motorcade nearly run over a group of fancy dress soldiers playing a Bon Jovi medley just outside Buckingham Palace.” Two years is a long time in the lif

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The Guardian Politics20 Jul 2026

Six highlights from Andy Burnham’s first Downing Street speech

From ‘circuit breaker for Britain’ to 10-year plan, new prime minister sets out his stall UK politics live – latest updates It clocked in at just over five minutes, and contained several themes and phrases familiar to Andy Burnham watchers. And yet there was quite a lot to the new prime minister’s first speech in Downing Street. Here are some highlights. Continue reading...

Politics
The Guardian Politics20 Jul 2026

Investigation of Nigel Farage over undeclared gifts is ‘kangaroo court’, says Reform MP

Runcorn MP Sarah Pochin says parliament mounting ‘vicious and desperate campaign to stop Reform UK’ A Reform UK MP has complained that the standards system investigating Nigel Farage over undeclared gifts is a “kangaroo court”. Sarah Pochin, the Runcorn MP, said Farage had called a byelection in his Clacton seat so voters could decide whether they backed him or not, and argued that “the media, the British state and the old parties have mounted a vicious and desperate campaign to stop Reform UK”.

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The Guardian Politics20 Jul 2026

Andy Burnham becomes UK prime minister after meeting King Charles

New Labour leader takes over from Keir Starmer and will head to Downing Street to appoint his cabinet UK politics live – latest updates Andy Burnham has formally become the UK prime minister after meeting King Charles at Buckingham Palace, the fourth person to hold the role in less than four years and the sixth within a decade. Burnham, who took over from Keir Starmer as leader of the Labour party on Friday, accepted the appointment as prime minister shortly after Starmer had gone to the palac

Politics
The Guardian Politics20 Jul 2026

Andy Burnham to become new prime minister and lay out ‘10-year plan’ for the UK in No 10 speech - UK politics live

Keir Starmer will give his final speech from Downing Street before Burnham arrives and is appointed as new PM Good morning. Today we are getting a new PM. It is the sixth time this has happened in just over a decade (Theresa May replaced David Cameron on 13 July 2016), and so in some respects there is nothing very new or surprising about this. Yet the process has been unusual. In the past, when parties in power have replaced a PM, generally they have opted for someone popular with their own MPs,

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The Guardian Politics20 Jul 2026

Why has Britain’s oldest political magazine become such a rabid cheerleader for Islamophobia? | Nesrine Malik

A report on the Spectator’s coverage of Muslims makes for grim reading. Conservatism is now focused on this minority to the exclusion of everything else I start this column already resigned to the tune out, to the glaze over, the click away. This is not to say that I do not have faith in you, dear reader, to keep reading and caring. But I am aware, and this is central to the problem, that it is now normal, when it comes to a certain minority in this country, to speak of them as if they were some

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The Guardian Politics20 Jul 2026

Andy Burnham says he will go ‘faster’ than Starmer. Why is that so hard?

Is the machinery of state jammed, or is the reason for the slow pace of change more personal than institutional? Eighteen months into the 24 it turned out he would last in No 10, Keir Starmer was a man in a hurry. The biggest frustration with the job, he told MPs, concerned “speed and the ability to get things done”. The underlying problem, he thought, was that every time something had gone wrong in the past, “successive governments have put in place another procedure or another body or another

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