Sir Keir Starmer attended Bastille Day celebrations in Paris as one of his final engagements on the international stage. The Prime Minister met British troops involved in the ceremonial events in the French capital before watching the parade alongside Emmanuel Macron and other leaders including Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky.
Starmer's Final International Appearance
Sir Keir will be succeeded as prime minister by Andy Burnham on Monday after the former Greater Manchester mayor secured enough support to make it mathematically impossible for anyone to stand against him for the Labour leadership. The celebrations follow Sir Keir’s final “coalition of the willing” summit on Monday, at which fellow leaders Mr Macron, Mr Zelensky and Germany’s Friedrich Merz paid tribute to his impact on the world stage.
French president Mr Macron told Sir Keir that “we owe you a lot, Prime Minister”, while Mr Merz, the German chancellor, said he would “phone you occasionally to get your opinion on this or that”. Mr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, thanked Sir Keir for his “constant, steadfast support”, which the Prime Minister said would continue under his successor.
Andy Burnham Set to Take Over
That successor is now guaranteed to be Andy Burnham, the former Greater Manchester mayor, who had secured the backing of 369 Labour MPs as of Tuesday. It is now mathematically impossible for another candidate to secure the 81 supporters necessary to mount a late challenge to succeed Sir Keir. But Mr Burnham will only be officially confirmed as the new leader on Friday, and will formally take over from Sir Keir three days later on July 20.
Despite being the only candidate, Mr Burnham took part in an online hustings with Labour MPs on Monday. Party sources said he used the event to set out his priorities for the country, including devolving power to communities, improving growth across the UK and tackling the cost of living. He also paid tribute to Sir Keir for delivering on his promise of a Hillsborough Law, which is expected to clear the Commons on Tuesday after a deal to bring spies within its “duty of candour”.
Burnham's Vision for Government
And he pledged to lead from the front on changing the culture within Labour, promising to be more accountable and accessible to MPs and to appoint cabinet ministers from across the party. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Mr Burnham said people’s everyday living expenses are “the issue of our times” as he was quizzed on his plans for government.
“If we want to connect politics better with people, well, let’s deal with some of the pressures people are under in terms of the everyday cost of transport, the bills that they’re paying. I heard it so often on doorsteps in the campaign,” he said. “You know, life has changed for people, and it’s not necessarily got better. And I think we just need to be relentlessly focused on that. I have talked about more public control of the basics, and then through that control, cutting the cost. I did that with buses in Greater Manchester, and I carry that same principle forward. To me, the cost of living and reducing it is everything, and I think we need to regain the confidence in the public that we’ve got a credible plan to do that and make life better.”
