New British PM’s pitch to history began with an apology. Amen to that

July 24, 2026 — 11:30am

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So speedy has been the turnover in occupancy over the past decade that 10 Downing Street has often felt more like a hot sheet motel on the outskirts of Tuscaloosa than the seat of British government. Five prime ministers in as many years. Seven in the past 10. Andy Burnham, though, looks to have the personality and political smarts that give him the air, even the aura, of durability.

Delivered without notes or a lectern – outdoor furniture now firmly associated with prime ministerial failure – his inaugural speech was essentially a mea culpa, and thus widely received as refreshingly candid. “I know people at home are fed up with politics. I hear you,” he said. “And I want to be honest with you. We have not been good enough, and we need to be better.” Amen to that.

As he prepared to stride through the most famous front door in politics, he promised a “new political model and a new economic model” and spoke purposefully of how he was about to “issue my first instruction: to end rough sleeping in our country”. Presenting his new administration as “a circuit-breaker”, he ended with his pitch to history: that this would be “the moment we bring back hope”.

Outside the gates of Downing Street, a mischief-maker belted out Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, the anthem of the European Union, and a musical reminder of the destabilising effect of Brexit. Yet it did not drown out Burnham’s aria of national renewal, which sounded so much more euphonious than the dirges delivered by Keir Starmer.

As Britain observed the now over-familiar rituals of the transfer of prime........

© Brisbane Times