I have a plan: UK PM-in-waiting Andy Burnham with agenda for change

London, Jul 17 (PTI) For Andy Burnham, Friday proved a case of third time lucky as he was crowned the new leader of the Labour Party with a pledge to do politics differently after two failed attempts at the top job in 2010 and 2015.  The 56-year-old prime minister-in-waiting will formally assume charge at Downing Street after a meeting with King Charles III at Buckingham Palace on Monday. As someone who led a major delegation to India in 2019 in his previous avatar as Mayor of Greater Manchester, Burnham's commitment to growing the region's ties with India is expected to translate at the national level too. "I have fond memories of my time in India in 2019, when I experienced first-hand so much of what this vibrant, welcoming country has to offer," said the former mayor during an Indian business delegation's visit to Manchester last year.   "That trip was significant because it saw us accelerate so many key projects, all aimed at capitalising on the strong synergies between Greater Manchester and India," he said, pledging his “full support in building ever closer ties". Burnham returned to Westminster politics last month by winning a by-election at Makerfield in northern England, pitched as illustrative of his leadership ability to counter the growing threat posed by the far-right Reform UK. "As your leader, I will set a direction that is distinctively Labour. We won't try to out-Green the Greens, or out-Reform Reform, or doing what we've done in the past... wearing too many Tory clothes," he has said, indicating a clear shift in political strategy.  Greater devolution to the regions of the United Kingdom, re-nationalising essential services and a “pro-business” approach based on his nine years as Mayor of Greater Manchester between 2017 and 2026 are among the key aspects of his vision as the UK’s new prime minister.  "We turn places round together, and that is the way we ran in Manchester, and we will take to the whole country," he said, pledging to provide more power to re-industrialise and to build an education system based on parity between academic and technical education.  Burnham, who will become Britain's 59th prime minister on Monday, has said he will spend the next few weeks of parliamentary recess being “out and about” across all parts of the country.  “From here, we do it differently. We win by being us, boldly, confidently, authentically us. Labour. That's how we win," Burnham said in his first major speech setting out the vision of "Burnham-ism" for Britain.  "I know what I believe after 25 years as an elected Labour representative, and I know what I want to do, working with you all. I have a plan, and what I also want you to know is that I won’t change. I have a style; it’s my style. I will always stay close to the ground, close to the people," he said. As a University of Cambridge graduate born to a telephone engineer father and a general practitioner (GP) surgery receptionist mother in Merseyside, north-west England, Burnham grew up in Cheshire, bordering Wales. He entered politics as a researcher and special adviser to a Labour veteran and went on to win his first general election as a member of Parliament for Leigh in Greater Manchester in 2001.   Emerging as one of the promising young parliamentarians under prime minister Tony Blair, it was in successor Gordon Brown’s Cabinet that he made his mark with quick promotions from Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Culture Secretary to Health Secretary.  With Labour's loss at the 2010 general election after his first failed attempt at the top job, he served in the shadow cabinet of Ed Miliband and then in 2015, lost out to Jeremy Corbyn in the leadership race before his mayoral bid led to his resignation as an MP in 2017.  Since then, he has become known as the "King of the North", a reference to the American fantasy drama ‘Game of Thrones', and was seen as biding his time to make a third play for the Labour leadership. With Starmer's troubles within his party mounting, he quickly emerged as the frontrunner to lead the party into the next general election expected by 2029.   His Dutch-born wife, Marie-France van Heel, and three children in their 20s – Jimmy, Rosie and Anne-Marie – are expected to divide their time between London and northern England, given Burnham's proposal for a “No. 10 North” to ensure power is not concentrated only at No. 10 Downing Street. PTI AK ZH ZH