Andy Burnham has officially become the United Kingdom’s new prime minister after being invited by King Charles III to form a government at Buckingham Palace on Monday.
Burnham, the newly elected Labour Party leader, met with the King for a 35-minute audience, during which he accepted the monarch’s request to form a new administration. Buckingham Palace later confirmed that Burnham had been appointed Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury.
The appointment marks another change in Britain’s political leadership, with Burnham becoming King Charles’ fourth prime minister since the monarch’s accession to the throne and the seventh U.K. prime minister in the past decade.
Shortly after taking office, Burnham began assembling his Cabinet, making history by appointing the first female-majority Cabinet in the country’s history. Of the 23 full Cabinet members, including the prime minister, 12 are women and 11 are men. Among those appointed are Shabana Mahmood as Home Secretary, Angela Rayner as Housing Secretary, Louise Haigh as First Secretary of State and Lucy Powell as Education Secretary.
Burnham also wasted little time outlining his government’s priorities, announcing plans to cut VAT on household electricity bills from October 1.
His first policy announcement was met with criticism from former Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister Darren Jones, who questioned the proposal in a post on X just hours after leaving office.
Burnham succeeds Sir Keir Starmer, who formally resigned before the handover of power on Monday, bringing an end to his tenure as prime minister.