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

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0:44He's just in front of these two microphones and wound straight into it, really looking like he was enjoying himself. We will make this moment a circuit breaker for Britain, bringing forward the biggest changes in the last 40 years. There's like a static electricity in the air at these events and Starmer just stood there. He looked statesman-like, as he often does, but he did not really look emotional. He looked like someone who wanted to get it over and done with. I go with good grace, I go with a smile and I go proud of everything that we have achieved. From the Guardians today in Focus, this is The Latest with me, Lucy Hoff.

1:29Well, it's been a huge political day already with the transfer of power from former Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer handing over to Andy Burnham. Alexandra Topping, our political correspondent, you were there at Downing Street to see this sort of transfer take place. What was the vibe like? And let's talk about Andy Burnham's speech first of all? I mean, it's an extraordinary scene being outside Downing Street at one of these moments. It really, you know, you are seeing history happen and it happens really quickly. So, you know, we had the guests coming in for Keir Starmer and then kind of before you know it, Andy Burnham was back from seeing the King and he was getting all the applause and the hugs and the adoration from the crowds who were there.

2:21It was kind of crazy. And what was so striking is that he wasn't using the lectern, which almost all of his predecessors have used. There was this sort of Burnham style informality already. He was wearing a suit though. That was a departure. No, it was really interesting, actually, because there was a very different vibe. You know, you have the kind of very formal, quite static Starmer in front of his podium and then Podium Guy who for those who are interested there's a whole space on the internet dedicated to Podium Guy but Burnham arrived he had a lot of love given to him you know he spent a long time hugging and and shaking hands with people and then he went to speak and the applause continued he's just in front of these two microphones and he wham straight into it looking at the camera speaking without notes looking very relaxed you know serious quite solemn but you know really looking like he was enjoying himself yeah so there were a few things that he he spoke about that sort of expanded from the policy speech he gave a couple of weeks ago um which was about sort of his version of manchesterism about devolution, about local government.

3:39But today he spoke about homelessness, he spoke about housing, and he spoke about a 10-year plan. There's been some criticism. We've had that one before. Yeah, we've had that one many times before. But, you know, I think there's been some criticism in the sort of hours after the speech that there was still not quite enough detail that some people were hoping for. He says there will be more detail on cost of living tomorrow. But how would you break down what he spoke about in terms of those specifics? I don't think there was a huge departure from what we already heard from his main speech when he accepted the Labour leadership on Friday and there was a reprise of the idea that Great Britain gave up a lot of control during the Thatcher years and he wants to you know push for renationalisation so but linking that with people's the cost of living crisis right now and saying part of the reason that we're in this crisis is because we've lost this control.

4:37So that we've heard before. The pledge to end street homelessness is new. He did pledge that as the mayor of Greater Manchester. He failed, interestingly. So it's quite bold that he would pledge that again. But homelessness really genuinely is something that's really personally very important to Andy Burnham. As mayor of Manchester, he gave 15 % of his wages to ending homelessness schemes. So that was a big one. And I think there's also, you know, this idea that he and his team have recognised that, OK, we've got to have a long term plan because we have to fix big structural problems with the country.

5:19But people also need help now. And I think he's very focused on that idea of what can we do now? And also, importantly, he said, I'm going to tell you what I'm going to do now and I'm going to tell you how I'm going to pay for it. So we'll all wait and see what that means. Yeah, and that's an announcement that's going to come tomorrow, right? This announcement on cost of living support that has been fully costed, apparently. So that implies his team has been hard at work at that in the weeks since this all began, a timetable that's much shorter than his team were hoping for. So it's been a busy day for Andy Burnham, hasn't it?

5:55Because as soon as he went into number 10, along with his wife, he was on the phone to President Donald Trump, fresh from his appearance at the World Cup in New Jersey. Not a popular appearance by the loud booing at him. But that's Burnham's first call with a world leader since becoming Prime Minister, right? Yeah, and I don't think that's any surprise, you know, despite Trump's unpopularity in this country and quietly and not so quietly amongst Labour MPs. It remains the single most important relationship that Great Britain has. Andy Burnham knows that he's not going to jeopardise the so-called special relationship.

6:37and he was also set to have a call with President Zelensky of Ukraine this afternoon and we know that he'll be talking to to other world leaders which of them he listens to we don't know yet but I think what happens with Burnham and Trump's relationship will be really interesting when people have talked about this you know in his camp off the record they say oh well you know Andy likes, Andy gets on with people, Andy, you know, Andy's charming. And well, maybe that will help. Starmer thought he was charming for a little while with Trump, but it didn't seem to last long. Yeah. So on that, the last time we've heard from Keir Starmer as prime minister behind the lectern, a speech that I think he was determined to leave with a smile, with a lot of positivity, talking about the transformation of the party in the six years since he became leader of the opposition.

7:36You were there for that speech. How would you describe the tone, the look amongst the people standing behind him as he walked away from number 10 for probably the last time? It's really interesting because there's like a static electricity in the air at these events. And even though it's kind of insane next to Downing Street for one of these big set pieces, There's camera people everywhere. There's stands, there's bags. Everyone's falling over and getting in each other's way and it's getting really grumpy. And Starmer just stood there. He looked statesmanlike, as he often does, but he did not really look emotional.

8:13He looked like someone who wanted to get it over and done with, take his wife's hand and get the hell out of Dodge. And to be honest, that's the vibe that came over in his speech. It was quite short. he like you said three and a half minutes three and a half minutes he just recapped the his sense of achievement and and pride if you like that he felt like he had left the country in a better state than he inherited it um and you know he's he i think he wanted to leave with dignity um so that we didn't see tears like we had done with teresa may we just saw a man who who said what he had to say and then got in his car and drove away.

8:55Yeah, no whistling a la David Cameron or Boris Johnson's them's the brakes before he got into the car. So it'll be very interesting to see what Keir Starmer chooses to do next in his career, political or otherwise. But for now, Lexi, thank you so much for your time. Thanks for having me. That's it for today. My huge thanks again to Lexi Topping, the Guardian's political correspondent. you can keep up with all her reporting and our live coverage of this story over at theguardian.com. And do head over to our sister podcast, Politics Weekly, where Pippa Creera and Kieran Stacey will be boring down analysing the details of a historic day in politics.

9:34Thanks for listening to this episode of The Latest. Today in Focus will be back in your feeds as usual tomorrow morning. The latest will be back tomorrow night. This episode was presented by me, Lucy Hoff. It was produced by Angus Neill. The senior producer was Ryan Ramgobin. The executive producer was Zoe Hitch. This is The Guardian.

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