Who is Andy Burnham beyond the stereotype of Manchester and Mancunianism? The United Kingdom asks itself the question, as it could become a new prime minister in three weeks, after of the resignation announcement of Keir Starmer. In a gesture of acceptance of the brutality of politics, the first in functions met this Tuesday with his successor de facto outside Downing Street, as has been revealed The Times.

A mid-morning this Monday, as the acting premier, Keir Starmer, had just announced his decision to throw in the towel and leave Downing Street, the former mayor of Manchester, Andy Burnham, 56 years old, married to a Dutch citizen and with three children, arrived at Manchester Picadilly station to catch the train to London. He was carrying a bag containing a suit and, undoubtedly, many hopes. Burnham appeared surrounded by journalists, and all sorts of passers-by pointed their mobile phones at him. He was escorted by a pair of police officers; however, he was accompanied by some of his female advisors. He did not shy away from the attention, nor could he avoid the nerves. To such an extent that he declared to the BBC cameras that he was going down to London to take possession of the mayor's office. "I said as mayor; I mean as a Member of Parliament." A slip of the tongue.

A tearful and emotional Keir Starmer, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom for less than two years, announced this Monday that he is stepping down in a speech of just over six minutes. After a weekend of reflection at his country residence, and having communicated his decision to King Charles III, the premier has come to the conclusion that everyone around him had already accepted, perhaps less so himself. But the pressure has finally become unbearable given the evident lack of support within the Labour parliamentary group.

Good news for British Labourism and, at the same time, bad news for Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and also for the ultra Nigel Farage. The incontestable victory in the Makerfield constituency by Andy Burnham in the by-election to the House of Commons held this Thursday opens a new phase in the party's crisis, and positions the Mayor of Manchester as the main contender to succeed Starmer in Downing Street. Burnham obtained 54.8% of the votes (24,927 ballots), very comfortably defeating the Reform Party candidate, Robert Kenyon (15,696). After almost a decade focused on local politics, the so-called King of the North will be able to return to Westminster, where he already tried to seize the party's reins after the electoral defeat of 2010.

The streets of Ashton‑in‑Makerfield and Hindley, the two main towns in the Makerfield constituency in northwest England, still echo a past that no longer exists. Their inhabitants would like to regain the security of a mine closed decades ago or the stability provided by the wages of a factory now reduced to ruins. Instead, they are faced with logistics centers, service companies, healthcare and elderly care providers, and zero-hour contracts that do not guarantee a single work shift.

The Brexit wound continues to bleed the British Labour Party, and by extension, the United Kingdom. The crisis that opened up in Keir Starmer's government last week following the electoral catastrophe of May 7 –and the growing internal pressure to oust him– has once again placed membership of the European Union at the center of the debate, as the tenth anniversary of the referendum approaches on June 23.

British politics has been advancing for decades like a Shakespearean comedy of errors: the characters change, but the pattern repeats. Long before the Brexit referendum, a decade ago, Westminster was already chaining cycles of confusion, miscalculated maneuvers, and governments trapped in their own mistakes. From 1974 – with two general elections, the fall of the conservative government, the winter of discontent, and unions at war – to parliaments without an absolute majority in the 21st century, passing through the illegal suspension of Parliament in 2019, the British system has shown a recurring fragility that contrasts with an image of impeccable solidity. The resignation announcement made this Monday by Keir Starmer, when he has not yet been in government for two years, once again highlights this.