This is Andy Burnham. Prime minister of the United Kingdom since the 20th of July.

Andy Burnham has been prime minister of the United Kingdom since July 20. On January 25, a ten-member panel of Labour's ruling body refused him permission to stand in a by-election: eight votes to one, with the chair abstaining. The two dates are 176 days apart. The stated reason was campaign resources ahead of May's elections. What followed: February 26: Labour lost the seat he had sought. The Greens won; Labour came third, its first defeat there since 1931. May 7: Labour lost about 1,500 councillors, control of 38 councils and its position as the largest party in Wales for the first time since devolution began. May 14: a Labour MP gave up Makerfield, and the party cleared Burnham to contest it. June 18: elected with 54.8%. The next day, he ceased to be mayor of Greater Manchester. Starmer announced his resignation four days after that win, saying he had heard the answer of his parliamentary party. Of Labour's 403 MPs, 379 nominated Burnham. No other candidate reached the threshold. Members never voted because there was only one candidate. His ministers were in place within three days. A minister who is an MP keeps their seat and is expected to vote with the government, so each appointment adds a vote the prime minister cannot lose. The law allows no more than 95 ministers and whips to sit in the Commons — a limit on ministers, not on the payroll vote: parliamentary private secretaries are whipped and uncapped. Burnham filled all 95 places. For scale, Starmer had used 93. Nothing here is a forecast: Greater Manchester elects Burnham's successor as mayor on July 30, with the count the following day. Sources: labour.org.uk; electionresults.parliament.uk; gov.uk; members-api.parliament.uk; Institute for Government, July 28; House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975, s. 2(1); Ministerial Code. Portraits: ©House of Commons / Roger Harris / Laurie Noble, CC BY 3.0, cropped. #andyburnham #ukpolitics #labourparty #europeanpolitics #datajournalism