Andy Burnham becomes British Labour leader; next stop, prime minister

Andy Burnham, nicknamed the “King of the North”, was elected leader of Britain’s governing Labour Party on Friday, the final step before becoming its seventh prime minister in a decade on a pledge to thwart the rise of the populist Reform UK.

BURNHAM PLEDGES TO THWART FARAGE’S REFORM UK His message of having a plan to thwart the rise of Reform had won over Labour lawmakers, who feared they would lose their parliamentary seats to veteran Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage’s populist party at the next national election, due by 2029.“We are united and we put the power that comes from that unity at the service of people and places who have been waiting too long for politics to let them hope again,” he told a room full of Labour lawmakers and party officials.