By ITV News Producer Hannah Ward-Glenton
Andy Burnham has become the seventh British prime minister in just over a decade.
If it feels as though tenures in No 10 have got shorter, it’s because they have – between 1966 and 2016, leaders held the top job for an average of six or seven years, with Margaret Thatcher leading the country for almost 12.
But it has been a different story in the last 10 years: from 2016 to 2026, leadership cycles have averaged around two years, a period that includes the UK’s shortest-serving PM at just 49 days – Liz Truss.
With the former Mayor of Greater Manchester now handed the well-worn keys to No 10, ITV News looks back at the previous PMs and their downfall.
David Cameron (May 2010 – July 2016)
While David Cameron had a lengthy stint as PM compared to his successors, his decision to resign in the wake of the Brexit vote is widely seen as the start of the “revolving door” at No 10.
Under his leadership, the Conservatives ended a 13-year run of Labour government in the 2010 election – though they failed to win a majority and were forced to enter a coalition with the Liberal Democrats.
While the coalition struggled with infighting between the two parties, the Conservatives also faced growing pressure from Nigel Farage’s Eurosceptic Ukip, which pledged to take the UK out of the EU.
Cameron had agreed to a referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union, but when the nation narrowly voted to leave, the pro-remain prime minister decided it was time to end his tenure.
“I do not think it would be right for me to be the captain that steers our country to its next destination,” he said in a statement outside Downing Street.
Initiating the Brexit referendum became one of the defining moments of Cameron’s career, but he is also credited with having formed and led the first UK coalition government since the Second World War and overseeing the legalisation of same-sex marriage in England and Wales.
Cameron also signed off on deep public spending cuts following the 2008 financial crisis.
Theresa May (July 2016 – July 2019)
Theresa May picked up the Brexit mantle and it dominated her time as prime minister as she tried to deliver a deal that would satisfy both sides of the divided Conservative Party and the country more widely.
After a lot of back and forth, Britain’s second female PM almost succeeded in securing a deal in 2018, but lost the support of key members of her cabinet and later that year faced a no-confidence vote, which she won.
But opposition to her leadership remained strong and variations of her deal were shot down by MPs, prompting her to resign in March 2024.
Away from Westminster, Theresa May also had a knack for going viral, including when she said the naughtiest thing she had ever done was “run through fields of wheat” as a child and various displays of her dancing.
Boris Johnson (July 2019 – September 2022)
Boris Johnson led a landslide Tory victory in an unusual November general election with a blue wave smashing the red wall and taking long-held Labour seats, including large swaths of Yorkshire and Humber, North East and North West England and the Midlands.
Just months after coming to power with a huge majority, Johnson made a televised address announcing a nationwide lockdown as Covid-19 reached UK shores. A month later, Johnson himself tested positive for coronavirus and became so ill that he spent several days in intensive care.
As the UK emerged from lockdown, Johnson’s government was hit by a series of scandals and revelations during the pandemic that became known as Partygate, which ultimately led to his downfall.
His chief advisor Dominic Cummings was accused of breaking lockdown rules by driving to Barnard Castle, ITV News revealed evidence of illicit meet-ups during the height of lockdown, Johnson became the first sitting prime minister fined by the police for breaking the law, and he denied knowledge of sexual assault allegations against MP Chris Pincher, despite having been aware of what was happening, to list some of the scandals that unfurled during Johnson’s stint in office.
After three years and 43 days in power, Johnson announced his resignation outside Downing Street, saying he wanted Britons to “know how sad [he is] to be giving up the best job in the world – but them’s the breaks”.
He didn’t show much remorse over the circumstances that led to his resignation, suggesting he’d been forced out by a “herd instinct” in Westminster which was too “powerful” to resist.
Liz Truss (September 2022 – October 2022)
Liz Truss holds the record for the shortest stint as prime minister in British history, at just 49 days.
After winning the Conservative leadership election, Truss was faced with a challenging in-tray as the cost of living soared in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
She promised a “bold plan” to cut taxes and grow the economy, but her mini-budget rocked financial markets, sent the pound plummeting and prompted a revolt within her own party.
Truss became the last prime minister to meet the late Queen, who died two days after meeting her at Balmoral. Queen Elizabeth II’s death triggered a ten-day national mourning period.
Perhaps one of the most famous moments of her short time in office was the Daily Star newspaper’s livestream of a lettuce to see whether the vegetable could last longer than the PM. The lettuce became a viral sensation and did, in fact, outlast Truss.
Rishi Sunak (October 2022 – July 2024)
When he took over from Truss, Rishi Sunak became the country’s first person from an ethnic minority and a Hindu background to lead the country, as well as being the youngest to do so for more than 200 years.
His biggest job was to stabilise the economy after Truss’ tenure, but he also oversaw the government’s implementation of the Rwanda asylum plan and scrapped the HS2 leg to Manchester before he called a snap General Election in May 2024.
Other notable moments from Sunak’s time at No 10 include the widespread backlash he received for opting to leave a D-Day commemoration event early to do an ITV News interview, in which he famously said he “couldn’t have Sky TV” as a child.
His resignation speech featured an element of pathetic fallacy as he was doused in rain outside Downing Street.
Keir Starmer (July 2024 – July 2026)
Sunak calling an election led to a landslide Labour majority, led by Sir Keir Starmer, that ended 14 years of Conservative leadership.
Labour won 411 seats, up 209 on their total from the 2019 election and the biggest gain in seats since 1945.
Starmer pledged to kickstart the economy, make Britain a “clean energy superpower” and rejuvenate the NHS, but setbacks and scandals overshadowed parts of his premiership.
U-turns on the winter fuel allowance, the two-child benefit cap and mandatory digital IDs dominated the headlines, until Peter Mandelson’s friendship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein came to light.
Starmer came under continued pressure over his decision to appoint Mandelson as US ambassador, and that, paired with poor local election results, led to his downfall.
He did deliver on some of his goals, including bringing NHS England waiting lists down to their lowest levels in nearly four years and reducing net migration.
Andy Burnham (July 2026 – ?)
Andy Burnham takes over as prime minister on Monday. So far he has promised to be “unashamedly Labour” as a leader and to have the “courage to fix the big things that politics has neglected”.
As for how Burnham’s tenure will compare with those of his predecessors, only time will tell.