Andy Burnham promised to restore “hope” and revive “the Labour they once knew” as he formally took charge of the governing party.
Declaring himself “ready to lead”, he assumed the Labour reins at a special conference held at the Trades Union Congress headquarters in central London. The event marked the final step before he replaces Keir Starmer as prime minister next week.
In his acceptance speech, Mr Burnham pledged to offer the country “hope” while drawing a line under the factional divisions that have troubled Labour.
He said the Labour movement that rallied behind him had “heard the call from the people of Makerfield on behalf of forgotten places everywhere up and down this country for a return of the Labour they once knew”.
“We will be that version of Labour again.”
He continued: “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.
“That’s what we’re going to do, everybody. We’re going to give them hope back.”
Burnham promises UK’s biggest transfer of power
The former Greater Manchester mayor re-entered Westminster last month as the MP for Makerfield. He subsequently secured overwhelming backing from Labour MPs to succeed Mr Starmer as party leader following the Prime Minister’s resignation announcement.
Mr Burnham, who contested the by-election with the stated aim of removing the Prime Minister, said he intended to stamp out “infighting”, the “insidious briefing culture” and the “factionalism” that has long “bedevilled” Labour.
Maintaining that he had “supported all our Labour leaders in my lifetime”, he said: “We won’t beat Britain’s new right if we are consumed by infighting and pulling in different directions. That is, and always has been, an indulgence that falls heaviest on the people who need Labour most.”
How Keir Starmer’s unpopularity across Britain turned his MPs against him
Mr Burnham also signalled that he would pursue greater cross-party agreement, arguing that a more collaborative approach could make political debate “that little bit less toxic”.
He promised to “set a direction that is distinctively Labour”, adding: “We won’t try to outgreen the Greens or out-Reform Reform, or doing what we’ve done in the past of wearing too many Tory clothes.”
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, acting as chairwoman of Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee, formally announced the leadership result. Mr Burnham won the support of 379 of Labour’s 403 MPs, as well as all 11 trade unions affiliated with the party.
Mr Burnham is due to enter No 10 Downing Street on Monday, becoming the UK’s seventh prime minister in a decade. Attention will now turn to the programme he intends to pursue and the ministers he chooses for his Cabinet.
The new Labour leader said his senior team would draw from every part of the party.
With speculation mounting over the shape of his Cabinet, Mr Burnham said: “I haven’t made any decisions yet about who will be in that top team, but I will soon, and when I have, you will see it reflects all parts of our party, all communities, and it will reflect your own place within this great party of ours – a stronger, more united Labour Party lifting up a stronger and more united Britain.”
Read more: Who is Andy Burnham?
