Labour Party leader Andy Burnham has officially taken office as the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, after meeting King Charles III at Buckingham Palace on Monday (July 20), according to an official statement issued by Buckingham Palace.
A Buckingham Palace statement said the monarch paid a royal visit to the Right Honourable Andrew Burnham MP and asked him to form a new government. Andy Burnham accepted the monarch’s offer, formally appointing him as Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury.
The British Prime Minister’s handover ceremony is known as the “kissed hands” ceremony. However, there is no actual kissing of hands in this ceremony. The King also met Burnham’s wife, Marie-France van Hill, at the ceremony.
According to a report in The Guardian, Sir Keir Starmer formally resigned as Prime Minister following British protocol. He arrived at Buckingham Palace with his family at 11:24 a.m. local time on Monday. There, he submitted his resignation to the monarch and left the palace grounds 30 minutes later.
Immediately afterwards, at 12:05 p.m., Andy Burnham, dressed in a suit and tie, arrived at Buckingham Palace to take office as the new Prime Minister.
