- Andy Burnham was sworn in as an MP on Monday after winning last week’s Makerfield by-election.
- Burnham travelled down to Westminster from Manchester earlier in the day, shortly after Keir Starmer confirmed he was resigning as prime minister.
- Burnham is widely expected to be the next prime minister after receiving the backing of a number of senior Labour MPs, and could take the post in a matter of weeks.
- First, he had to be sworn in as an MP, and after taking the oath in the House of Commons, Burnham was heckled as another MP shouted out: “He’s not the messiah!”
- Burnham laughed off the reference from the 1979 film Monty Python’s Life of Brian, before cheekily retorting: “Naughty boy!” which drew laughs from the House.
