Burnham the frontrunner
Andy Burnham – who won the Makerfield by-election last week and resigned as Greater Manchester mayor to return to Westminster – is the clear frontrunner to succeed Starmer. His majority of more than 9,000 votes over Reform UK, beating expectations from all pre-election polling, accelerated the pressure on Starmer and made his position effectively untenable. His successor will be Britain’s seventh prime minister in a decade.
