On July 20, Andy Burnham became Britain’s seventh prime minister in the last 10 years, its fourth in the last five years, and its second since the Labour Party won the 2024 general elections. He inherits an 80-seat parliamentary majority. The opposition is divided. The media are largely sympathetic. Burnham is the only party leader with a net-positive poll rating. In normal times, these advantages would allow a prime minister to reshape the British state and set a new course. But these are not normal times.