Sawt Falasteen - Burnham on track to be UK PM as scores of Labour MPs back leadership bid

The 56-year-old is the only member of parliament from the UK's ruling party to publicly declare themselves a candidate to replace Starmer, who announced he was quitting last month.

Burnham appeared on course to be crowned Labour leader unchallenged after the party announced that 322 of its 403 MPs had backed him on the first day of nominations on Thursday.

"It is all starting to feel very real," Burnham said in a social media video posted shortly after the process opened.

With 322 nominations, he seemed on an unstoppable path to the Labour leadership and thus the premiership, as there is very little chance for another challenger to get the 81 signatures required to join the race.

Nominations close on July 16. In the absence of a contest, Burnham will be crowned Labour leader -- and prime minister in waiting -- at a special conference the following day.

He would then replace Starmer at 10, Downing Street on July 20 after meeting King Charles III, becoming Britain's seventh prime minister in a decade.

"There's no one else," one Labour MP told AFP on condition of anonymity after nominating Burnham.

In a post on Facebook, Burnham said he was "deeply grateful" for the across-the-party support from Labour MPs "who have put their trust in me."

"That is the circuit breaker I am offering: power out of Westminster, an economy rewired for ordinary people, and good growth in every postcode."

Burnham, nicknamed the "King of the North" for winning three consecutive Greater Manchester mayoral elections, has vowed to "bring about the biggest rebalancing of power our country has seen".

His signature proposal is the creation of a "No. 10 North" to coordinate greater devolution -- a reference to the UK prime minister's address at 10 Downing Street.

Burnham has pledged fiscal discipline and to reduce the country's ballooning welfare bill, having already sought to calm markets by committing to the government's current borrowing limits.

But he will face the same challenges that buffeted Starmer's almost- two-year premiership causing him to resign last month -- notably anaemic growth, a cost-of-living squeeze and an unpredictable US president in Donald Trump.

He has also indicated he could stake out a different path to Starmer on Israel, which enjoyed solid backing from the Labour government even as criticism grew of its war in Gaza.

Starmer, under pressure for months over policy U-turns and questions about his judgement, announced on June 22 that he was resigning after losing the support of Labour MPs.

His move came after Burnham won a by-election that allowed him to return to parliament to launch a widely expected leadership challenge.

On the day Starmer announced his resignation, Burnham was sworn into parliament, becoming an MP again following his stint between 2001 and 2017.

- 'Breath of fresh air' -

Burnham -- seen as slightly to the left of the more centrist Starmer, and more charismatic -- is Labour's most popular politician, surveys show.

Many MPs feel he is the party's best chance of clawing back support from Nigel Farage's anti-immigrant Reform UK party before the next general election, expected in 2029.

Reform has led Labour in national opinion polls for well over a year, although the gap has narrowed in recent weeks amid questions over Farage's finances.

One Labour MP, who asked not to be named, said the party was right to "roll the dice" on Burnham, saying "he couldn't be worse than Starmer".

"I hope he's a breath of fresh air," the lawmaker told AFP.

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