By lunchtime today, the UK will have its fifth prime minister in four years. No other sentence can so pithily summarise the nature of British politics right now than that one. In the summer of 2022 Boris Johnson was on his way out, but still in office. Since then there has been Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer. Little wonder Andy Burnham will say later, we are told, that he is "acutely conscious" of this churn at the top. His critics, within the Labour Party and beyond it, may allow themselves a wry smile at that, given they would argue he has been agitating for this moment for ages. In the post-pandemic, post-Brexit 2020s, when for so long so many have felt like life is getting harder, the national mood is impatient and political support is fragmenting. The consequence of that in recent years has meant those in government have been unpopular.
Published: July 19, 2026 11:53 pm
Source: BBC — Read original