Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Japan will further deepen relations with Britain under new Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who took office Monday after winning the ruling Labour Party’s leadership race last week.
In a post on X on Monday evening, Takaichi said in English that she looks forward to working closely with Burnham, who succeeded Keir Starmer, to further deepen bilateral ties “across a wide range of fields” as “enhanced global strategic partners.”
Takaichi also said she believes Burnham will lead Britain with “robust leadership,” leveraging his “strong track record” from his time as the mayor of Greater Manchester, during which he promoted public services reforms before returning to national politics by winning a June by-election.
On Tuesday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said at a press conference that Japan will tackle global challenges with Britain, such as the realization of a free and open Indo-Pacific, a vision advocated by Japan that is seen as an attempt to counter China’s growing clout in the region.
Kihara, the top government spokesman, also said that Japan will continue to collaborate with Britain and Italy on their joint project of developing a next-generation fighter jet by 2035.
As the sole contender, Burnham won the party leadership contest held on Friday following Starmer’s announcement in late June of his decision to resign after the party’s heavy defeat in May local elections. (JapanToday)
Andy Burnham took office Monday as Britain’s new prime minister, promising a 10-year plan to restore political stability and revive the economy while acknowledging that six other U.K. leaders have tried and failed to do so in the past decade.
Speaking outside 10 Downing Street minutes after being formally appointed by King Charles III, Burnham pledged to ease the cost of living for ordinary people, decentralize political power, revitalize industry and end street sleeping by homeless people. He said he would deliver a “circuit breaker” for a system that has taken wrong turns since the 1980s, when public services and utilities were privatized and local government eroded.
“We will take power out of here and carry it into every postcode in the land so that they can do more and in doing more, build a new economy where we put life’s essentials back under stronger public control to make them affordable to you again,” he said.
Burnham said he was “acutely conscious” of the political revolving door he was walking through.
“This is a moment for reflection and new resolution,” he said. “It requires my generation of politicians to raise our game and rise to the new challenge. Britain needs to show the world that we can regain our stability once again, and that is our challenge to make politics work, to make it work better.”
One of Burnham’s biggest tasks on his first day was to appoint a cabinet. The key post of chancellor of the exchequer went to John Healey, the former defense secretary who quit the previous government a few weeks ago over funding plans for his department. His appointment as Treasury chief was a surprise.
Healey replaces Rachel Reeves, the architect of much of the economic agenda of Burnham’s predecessor, Keir Starmer, as well as some of the missteps that ate away at his support. Others leaving the cabinet included David Lammy, who was deputy prime minister.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband was given the role of foreign secretary. He replaces Yvette Cooper, who was appointed health secretary, a demotion but a hugely important post for the Labour Party’s reelection prospects. Shabana Mahmood remains as home secretary. The full cabinet meets Tuesday.
Burnham became the seventh U.K. prime minister since 2016 in a now well-rehearsed handover after replacing Starmer as leader of the center-left governing Labour Party on Friday. Starmer announced last month that he would resign.
Starmer left office just two years after winning a landslide election victory, forced out by his own party after a series of missteps and U-turns.
Britain’s parliamentary democracy allows governing parties to change leaders, and thus prime ministers, without the need for a general election. The next national poll does not have to be held until 2029, though Burnham can call one sooner if he wants.
Burnham was the only candidate in a contest to become the party’s new leader, securing nominations from 379 of the 403 Labour lawmakers in the House of Commons.
He will confront many of the same struggles as his predecessor: a sluggish economy, a cost-of-living crisis, overstretched public services, concerns about migration and foreign affairs that include wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.
He will also try to navigate relations with U.S. President Donald Trump, who first warmed to, then soured on, Starmer. Burnham’s office said the prime minister spoke to Trump on Monday afternoon and “underlined his commitment to defense and security.”
The former mayor of Greater Manchester previously pledged to make politics “less toxic,” improve living standards across the country and “bring back the hope we have all been missing.”
Burnham said he will set out a 10-year plan for Britain later this year. Before that, he will lay out first steps “to give people some breathing space now, some help with the cost of living.”
“And I will set out some of those measures starting tomorrow, including how we pay for them,” he said.
After his speech, he told reporters that he has “always taken a very prudent approach” to the economy in previous jobs, and will not take any economic risks now.
Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London, said Labour had backed Burnham “to inject a sense of positivity, of hope, of purpose, a sense of direction.”
Burnham says “he is going to mark a big break, not just with Keir Starmer, but also with what he regards as four decades of the country going in the wrong direction,” Bale said. “But quite what that means in terms of concrete policies, in terms how much he’s going to spend and on what, and how much is going to tax … we’re not sure yet.”
In the rapid-fire world of British political transitions, Burnham entered Downing Street only minutes after Starmer left.
“I go with good grace. I go with a smile, and I go proud of everything that we have achieved,” Starmer said before heading to Buckingham Palace to offer his resignation to the king. It was an offer the king “was graciously pleased to accept,” the palace said in a statement.
Starmer became Labour leader in 2020 after one of the party’s worst election defeats, and he led Labour to a landslide victory four years later. But he was soon defeated by the challenges of governing.
“It has been the privilege of my life to serve you and this great country as prime minister,” Starmer said before leaving Downing Street, hand-in-hand with his wife, Victoria. “I am confident that Britain is now stronger and fairer than it was two years ago.” (JapanToday)
Andy Burnham was officially declared leader of Britain’s governing Labour Party on Friday, promising to bring hope to the British people and purpose to the floundering government as he cleared his final hurdle to take office as prime minister next week.
The former mayor of Greater Manchester was the only contender in the center-left party’s leadership contest to replace departing Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who was forced out by a rebellion within his party. Friday’s announcement was a foregone conclusion after Burnham secured nominations from 379 of the 403 Labour lawmakers in the House of Commons.
Burnham pledged to serve “people and places who have been waiting too long for politics to let them hope again.”
“We’re going to give them hope back,” he told an audience of lawmakers, party activists and trade union leaders in his first speech as leader. “I am ready.”
“I have a plan,” he added, in a bid to reassure a party that has seen its popularity nosedive since winning a landslide election victory two years ago. He pledged to end Labour’s factional disputes, saying “we won’t beat Britain’s new right if we are consumed by infighting and pulling in different directions.”
Burnham has been prime minister-in-waiting for weeks, since winning a special election for a seat in Parliament a month ago, but he has revealed little detail about his policy priorities. He will arrive in Number 10 Downing Street largely unknown to voters outside Manchester.
He sketched out some priorities in Friday’s speech, promising to deliver “hope in every heart” and “good growth in every post code,” in part by transferring power from central government in London to local leaders in cities and regions.
“We will take power back from Westminster and Whitehall and give it to the place you live,” he told the audience. “More power over life’s essentials so you can make them work better.”
Starmer announced last month that he would resign after two years in office marred by missteps and judgment errors that eroded his standing with his party and the public.
Labour regularly trails behind anti-immigration party Reform UK in opinion polls, and the governing party had catastrophic results in local elections in May, triggering pressure on Starmer to step down that he couldn’t resist.
Burnham brings a more relaxed style of leadership than the rather stern Starmer, and is regarded as one of the Labour Party’s best communicators. But he faces many of the same problems as his predecessor, including a sluggish economy, a cost-of-living squeeze fueled by wars in Ukraine and the Middle East and overstretched public services.
And his promises of a new, less divisive politics are not too different to what Starmer pledged when he took office in 2024.
“I will work to build a new politics. The country is crying out for it,” Burnham said. “How can politicians point fingers when living standards are falling and politics as a whole isn’t working for them? It infuriates them and makes them switch off.”
He said he would have the “courage to fix the big things that politics has neglected,” such as tackling the patchy access to social care for those who need it because of age, illness or disability. It’s a pressing issue in a country with an aging population, and one that has foxed previous Labour and Conservative governments.
He highlighted plans to focus on economic renewal, more public control of key sectors and creating new modern industrial jobs, arguing that Britain took “a series of wrong turns in the 1980s” when “political power was centralized and economic power privatized.”
That’s the decade when Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher oversaw policies of privatization, deindustrialization and political centralization that transformed the U.K. economy.
“Slowly, at times imperceptibly, over four decades, political and economic power drained away out of our communities in every region and nation of the U.K.,” Burnham said, calling Britain’s change of prime ministers — for the sixth time in a decade — “the most significant change moment in our politics for 40 years.”
Starmer will remain prime minister until Monday, when he formally tenders his resignation to King Charles III. The king will then ask Burnham to form a government.
Britain’s parliamentary democracy allows governing parties to change leaders, and thus prime ministers, without the need for a general election. The next national election doesn’t have to be held until 2029.
New prime ministers have come with increasing frequency in recent years. Burnham will be the U.K.’s seventh leader since 2016. (JapanToday)
Sir Keir Starmer has said he will quit as Labour Party leader, paving the way for a contest to decide a new prime minister.
Speaking in Downing Street, Sir Keir said he accepted he was not best placed to lead Labour into the next general election and he had informed the King of his decision to step down.
Sir Keir added he has asked Labour’s governing body to set out a timetable to replace him, with nominations opening on 9 July and ending by the summer recess on 16 July.
He said if there was a contest then a new leader would be in place before Parliament returns in September, and he will “do everything” he can to ensure an “orderly” transition of power.
Sir Keir said he would remain as prime minister until the leadership contest is complete.
He added he would also give his successor “my full and unequivocal support, knowing that they will inherit a Britain that is far stronger and fairer than the one I inherited two years ago”.
Andy Burnham is regarded by many as the frontrunner to replace Sir Keir after he secured an emphatic win over his Reform UK rival in last week’s Makerfield by-election.
Burnham announced on Monday that he would put himself forward as a candidate in the leadership contest, hours before he is expected to formally take up his seat as an MP.
His chances were given an immediate boost by former Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who had been viewed as his main rival, offering his backing to the former Greater Manchester mayor.
Sir Keir was elected leader of the Labour Party in April 2020 and became prime minister on 5 July 2024 following Labour’s landslide general election victory.
He will leave Downing Street as the shortest-serving Labour prime minister in history.
His period in office will last longer than his Conservative predecessors Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss but behind all six previous Labour prime ministers.
Sir Keir’s decision to step down also means the UK will soon have its seventh prime minister since 2016. (BBC)
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged Monday to prove the “doubters” in his own party and among the electorate wrong as he struggled to fight off growing demands to step down after devastating local election results for his Labour Party.
Starmer said he would “face up to the big challenges” and restore hope to the country, in part by forging closer ties with the European Union, six years after the UK’s acrimonious departure from the bloc.
“I know I have my doubters and I know I need to prove them wrong, and I will,” Starmer said during a speech in London intended to kickstart his fightback against detractors.
It did not appear to have the intended effect. In the hours after the speech a steady stream of Labour lawmakers spoke to the media or posted on social media saying Starmer should resign, either now or soon.
Several of those calling for him to go were ministerial aides, in an apparently coordinated move aimed at putting pressure on Starmer’s Cabinet to deliver an ultimatum, perhaps at its weekly meeting on Tuesday.
Labour has been plunged into gloom by heavy losses last week in local elections across England and legislative votes in Scotland and Wales. The elections have been interpreted as an unofficial referendum on Starmer, whose popularity has plummeted since he swept to power in a landslide less than two years ago.
Starmer’s government has struggled to deliver promised economic growth, repair tattered public services and ease the cost of living, and been hamstrung by repeated missteps and policy U-turns on issues including welfare reform. He has been further hurt by his disastrous decision to appoint Peter Mandelson, a scandal-tarnished friend of Jeffrey Epstein, as Britain’s ambassador to Washington.
Last week’s elections saw Labour squeezed from both right and left, losing votes to both Reform UK and the “eco-populist” Green Party. The result reflects the increasing fragmentation of British politics, long dominated by Labour and the Conservatives.
Starmer had hoped to regain momentum with his speech and an ambitious set of legislative plans to be set out in a speech Wednesday by King Charles III at the State Opening of Parliament.
In Monday’s speech, he vowed to prove to millions of people “tired of a status quo that has failed them” that the government is on their side.
He said Labour is in “a battle for the soul of our nation,” and warned Britain will go down “a dark path” if Reform UK, the anti-immigration party led by Nigel Farage, comes to power.
Starmer told an audience of party lawmakers and activists that the government will take control of Britain’s energy, economic and defense security and make the country fairer. He announced plans to nationalize what is left of the once-mighty British Steel, a move that could save some industrial jobs in an area where working-class voters have deserted Labour for Reform UK.
Starmer also pledged to put Britain “at the heart of Europe” and forge closer ties with the 27-nation EU. Farage, who spearheaded the Brexit campaign, and Reform UK oppose any move to get closer to the EU.
Brexit has been a drag on the British economy, and President Donald Trump’s “America First” economic and foreign policy has spurred Britain to seek closer defense, security and economic cooperation with its European neighbors.
Labour supporters are largely anti-Brexit, which failed to deliver the benefits its backers promised. But Starmer has been reluctant to reopen a debate that bitterly divided the country. He has ruled out seeking to reenter the EU, or to rejoin the bloc’s customs union or single market, things that would make a big economic difference.
British politics allows parties to change leader midterm without the need for a new election.
None of the high-profile Labour politicians considered potential challengers to Starmer — including former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham — has yet called for him to resign.
Rayner did not explicitly call for Starmer to quit, but accused him of presiding over “a toxic culture of cronyism” and said the government must “stay true to Labour and social democratic values” and ease the cost of living for working people.
Labour lawmaker Catherine West, who had vowed to trigger a leadership challenge if Monday’s speech didn’t mark a major turning point, said she would hold off for now, though she urged Starmer to resign by September.
More than 60 other lawmakers, out of Labour’s total of 403, also urged him to announce a departure date, with the number ticking up in the hours after the speech.
“I don’t think we saw a plan from the prime minister this morning in order to implement the kind of change that this country needs,,” lawmaker Chris Curtis told Sky News.
Another legislator, Joe Morris, said: “the message from last week’s elections was clear: The prime minister has lost the confidence of the public.”
But some who attended Starmer’s speech said kicking out the man who led them to victory in 2024 would be counterproductive.
“You can’t be changing prime ministers two years in,” said Kevin Craig, a former local councilor in London. “It’s really important we stay grown-up now.” (JapanToday)
Former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has mourned victims of the mining pit collapse in Kadauri, Maru Local Government Area of Zamfara State, describing the incident as a national tragedy that highlights Nigeria’s weak regulatory framework in the solid minerals sector.
In a statement released on Sunday on X, Obi said he was deeply saddened by the collapse, which trapped several miners underground.
“I am deeply saddened by the tragic incident at the Kadauri mining site in Maru Local Government Area, Zamfara State, where about 100 people are feared dead, with 15 miners already rescued and 13 people sadly confirmed dead,” he said.
The former Anambra governor extended condolences to the families of the victims while praising local rescue efforts.
“My heartfelt prayers and condolences go to the bereaved families and to the good people of Zamfara at this difficult time.
“I commend the Governor and the State rescue teams for the efforts made so far,” Obi added.
He urged urgent reforms in the solid minerals industry, and said the disaster should serve as a wake-up call for the government to urgently secure the industry, enforce global safety standards by prioritising the protection of lives.
“This unfortunate disaster is yet another reminder of the urgent need to secure and properly regulate our solid minerals industry with strict licensing, adherence to global safety standards, and well-equipped rapid response systems.
“The safety and transparency of operations of our mining sites must be prioritised so that tragedies like this are prevented in the future. I pray that many more are rescued alive and may the souls of those departed rest in perfect peace,” Obi added.
PUNCH Online had reported that Zamfara State Government confirmed that only 10 people lost their lives in the incident.
Speaking to our correspondent, the Special Assistant to Governor Dauda Lawal on Media and Communications, Mustafa Kaura, said only one person was rescued alive while 10 bodies were evacuated.
Kaura described illegal mining as a major threat, warning that unchecked activities could worsen insecurity and trigger further disasters.
“It is disheartening to note that there are over 20,000 illegal miners currently in the state looking for gold, which is worrisome,” he said. (Punch)
Britain’s deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, resigned on Friday after an investigation found she breached the ministerial code by underpaying on a property tax, in a major blow to Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s embattled Labour government.
Rayner, a figurehead among the party’s left-wing base, had earlier this week admitted not paying enough on the flat purchase and referred herself to the government’s independent ethics adviser.
In a letter to Starmer, ethics chief, Laurie Magnus, wrote that Rayner had failed to “heed the caution” of legal advice she had received and had therefore breached the ministerial code.
“Given the findings, and the impact on my family, I have therefore decided to resign,” Rayner wrote in a letter to Starmer, adding she would also be stepping down as housing minister and deputy leader of the Labour Party.
“I deeply regret my decision to not seek additional specialist tax advice,” Rayner said, adding she took “full responsiblity for this error”.
In his reply, Starmer told her he was “very sad” to lose her from government, but added: “You will remain a major figure in our party”.
Rayner disclosed on Wednesday that she had underpayed on the so-called stamp duty on a flat in southern England following days of reports suggesting that she had saved £40,000 ($53,000) by removing her name from the deeds of another property.
The 45-year-old has three sons, one of whom was born prematurely and is registered blind with lifelong special needs.
She said on Wednesday that after her 2023 divorce she sold her part of the family home to the trust fund to protect it for her child’s future and used the money in the flat purchase.
She paid less of the property surcharge because she claimed it was her main home rather than a second home, but later conceded this was wrong because her son is under 18 years old.
Magnus said Rayner had “acted with integrity and with a dedicated and exemplary commitment to public service” but concluded he considered the “code to have been breached”.
Rayner had often been tipped to become Labour leader one day and has been a top target for political attacks by the Conservatives and right-wing media.
She left school with no qualifications after becoming pregnant aged 16, and has a straight-talking style that has proved popular with working-class voters.
She grew up in Stockport on the outskirts of Manchester in northwest England, living in one of the area’s most deprived social housing complexes. (Punch)
The immediate past Deputy Governor of Abia State, Ude Chukwu, on Saturday formally joined the Labour Party (LP) at his country home in Nkoro, Ohafia Local Government Area.
Chukwu, who recently resigned from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), where he served under former Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, described his move as the beginning of a new political era for him and his constituents.
“All Nkporo people are here today. The implication is that Nkporo is now in the Labour Party,” Chukwu declared.
Explaining his defection, the former deputy governor lauded Governor Alex Otti’s leadership style. “I decided to join you because you treat governance as a personal mission.
“You have done well. Today, we can proudly say we are Abians. PDP in Abia State has closed shop as from today,” he said.
Governor Otti, while receiving Chukwu into the Labour Party, praised his decision and described him as a principled leader. According to him, Chukwu is “a man who will give you your due respect.”
The governor further assured that ongoing infrastructure projects, including the Nkporo road, would be of the same standard as those in Aba and Umuahia.
Also speaking, the Abia LP Chairman, Sir Emmanuel Otti, said Chukwu’s entry would “awaken the people of the area to new opportunities.”
In the same vein, the Ohafia LGA LP chairman, Godwin Kalu, pledged unity and development for the zone, while the PDP LGA chairman, Egesi Eze Azu, also announced his defection alongside Chukwu. (Vanguard)
A chieftain of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Abba Moro, says the party regrets fielding Atiku Abubakar as its presidential candidate in the 2023 elections.
Moro, a senator representing Benue South in the National Assembly, stated this on Channels Television’s Politics Today.
“As a result of how the election turned out and because the Nigerian people spoke, definitely, it [fielding Atiku] was an error,” the Senate Minority Leader said on Tuesday.
“To lose a very monumental election in that disastrous manner is certainly in for regret.”
The PDP lost the presidential election to the All Progressives Congress (APC), coming second in the exercise won by Bola Tinubu, the then-flagbearer of the ruling APC.
About two years after that defeat, Atiku dumped the PDP and has yet to announce his new party.
Though the 2027 general polls are barely two years away, there are rumours that the main opposition wants to persuade former President Goodluck Jonathan and ex-Anambra State governor, Peter Obi, to return to its fold.
Since Jonathan lost to ex-President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015, he has kept a low profile as he has not been seen at public functions within the PDP.
Similarly, Obi, who was running mate to Atiku in the 2019 elections, dumped the PDP for the Labour Party, where he later secured its presidential ticket for the 2023 polls.
He was said to have been frustrated out of the PDP, a claim that was corroborated by Moro.
But Moro said there were ongoing talks to persuade the duo to join the presidential race.
He added, “So, in the run-up to 2027, I am aware certain individuals have been talking to Peter Obi, ‘Hey, come back home, this is what we are likely to do, and if you come, you stand a chance of being the candidate’,” Moro said on the show.
When asked about the possibilities of ex-President Jonathan returning to the PDP, Senator Moro said, “Some persons are talking to the former president to come and run. It is a possibility”. (Channels)
Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, has downplayed the chances of rival candidates in the forthcoming November 8 governorship election, saying those presenting themselves as contestants are only seeking appointments and cheap popularity.
Soludo, who is seeking re-election on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), made the remarks on Saturday at the Chuba Ikpeazu Sports Complex, Onitsha, during a political rally organised by the Anambra State Market Amalgamated Traders Association, where traders endorsed his second term bid.
Addressing the large gathering of market leaders and traders, the governor reiterated that he has no real opponents in the poll.
“The journey to the November 8 election is still far. We are not going to take it for granted. Although we have no contestants, we are going into the election with all seriousness.
“Every other contestant is looking for an appointment, but instead of them to come and tell us what they are looking for, they are claiming to be contesting for the election.
“Our opponents don’t have a certificate. Gone are the days when charlatans rule Anambra; this is the state of the great Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chinua Achebe, Alex Ekwueme; no unknown character will be allowed to rule Anambra again. They should go and continue their land-grabbing business and stop contesting to be governor.”
Soludo also assured traders of a new tax system where no one would be compelled to pay cash.
Thanking the people for their support in the August 16 by-elections, which APGA candidates won, the governor said the victory reaffirmed the party’s dominance in the state.
“The election in Onitsha became a national election, because the election was about leadership by selection against leadership by competence. Election is not about sympathy, it’s not about ‘oh, vote for me, my husband is no more’… But I am glad you guys voted for competence over sentiment.
“Some people who were ready to write result said it was a mock election for November, but they were defeated at their wards and polling units. APGA is our address. APGA is Anambra and Anambra is APGA,” the governor said.
He further dismissed threats from opposition parties, branding them “nomadic politicians.”
“Last time, it was Labour Party everywhere, they were making noise. I call them the nomadic politicians; every election year, they enter into another party. But for us, we are APGA and we are saying APGA is Anambra and Anambra is APGA.
“Election period is business for some people, after the election, they will write on their complimentary card, ‘former governorship candidate’ and be begging for appointment here and there.
“Between now and November, you will be seeing new projects we are embarking on across the state. Keep the markets clean, keep it safe and most importantly, open your market on Mondays, there is nothing like Monday sit-at-home,” Soludo said. (Vanguard)
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