UAE President, VPs greet new British PM Burnham

President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan has sent a congratulatory cable to Andy Burnham on the occasion of his appointment as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, and His Highness Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Presidential Court, also sent similar congratulatory cables to Andy Burnham.

Burnham became British prime minister Monday after meeting King Charles III at Buckingham Palace.

Outgoing PM Keir Starmer departed Downing Street on Monday morning, insisting in a farewell speech his two years in office had made Britain a better place.

The monarch met Starmer to accept his resignation and Burnham arrived next for the formal procedure in which the king asked him to form the next government and he accepted.

The 56-year-old is the sixth prime minister to enter Downing Street in the last 10 years.

"I am confident that Britain is now stronger and fairer than it was two years ago," Starmer told reporters in his farewell speech outside his central London office. "I go with good grace, I go with a smile, and I go proud of everything that we have achieved," he added.

WAM / AFP