UK PM Starmer and potential successor Burnham hold first face-to-face meeting

The UK's outgoing prime minister and the man who essentially forced him to go have held their first face-to-face meeting.

At a secret location in London, Sir Keir Starmer and the new MP for Makerfield, Andy Burnham, came together on Tuesday, local time, for one hour.

While neither side has given away details about the talks, it is understood they spoke about how an orderly transition of power would play out.

The meeting was first reported by British newspaper The Times, then later confirmed by aides.

It was the first conversation between the pair since Sir Keir announced he was standing down as prime minister and Mr Burnham returned to Westminster after winning a critical by-election in England's north last week.

When announcing the timeline for his resignation, Sir Keir said nominations to replace him would open on July 9 and close a week later, allowing time for a new leader to be installed before parliament returned from its summer recess in September.

Mr Burnham, 56, has confirmed he wants the top job and so far there are no other contenders.

It seems that many, including the team at Number 10 Downing St, are preparing for the 56-year-old to be the next occupant of the famous address.

Number 10 says it is allowing any candidates who want to be the next PM "access talks", which are essentially briefings about government business, even though nominations for the Labour leadership are not yet open.

Access talks are normally granted to opposition party leaders ahead of a general election.

Most support within the Labour Party seems to be with Mr Burnham, but two other MPs are still mulling leadership bids: the former armed forces minister, Al Carns, 46, and Sir Keir's chief secretary, Darren Jones, 39.

Mr Jones is said to be weighing up a leadership bid. However, he said he "was getting on with the job" when asked about it this morning, ITV reported.

Mr Carns is making up his mind whether to launch a leadership campaign.

He said he had not ruled out standing, telling ITV's Peston program on Monday night: "I'm not ready to make a decision on this," ITV reported.

Many in the party want Mr Carns and Mr Jones to put their hands up so Mr Burnham does not become prime minister without a contest of ideas.

Mr Burnham and his team are frantically pulling together documents about policies and positions ahead of a major speech next week.

A lot is riding on this speech because many in UK Labour are nervous about letting the former mayor of Greater Manchester become the prime minister without really knowing what he stands for.

While his achievements with local issues in Greater Manchester are recognised, many MPs are unclear about his policy agenda on a national level, and how he would handle big issues such as immigration, welfare, health, defence and foreign affairs.

If no-one ends up challenging him, he could find himself moving into Number 10 by July 17.

In a video on his social media account, Mr Burnham described his first day back at Westminster.

"New home," he says, arriving in an empty office.

"It is surreal now. It wasn't surreal before because I was still in the sort of afterglow of the GMCA [Greater Manchester Combined Authority] departure, but this definitely feels surreal now."

The new Makerfield MP also spoke about how different his arrival in Westminster was to when he was previously the MP for Leigh from 2001—2017.

"I remember when I first came down [to London] in 2001, obviously I wasn't greeted at Euston [train station] like that," he says, in reference to the dozens of cameras and journalists who captured his arrival.

Starmer wants transition to be 'as easy as possible'

Sir Keir is now very much a prime minister in office but not in power.

He held his weekly cabinet meeting with his top team on Tuesday morning. However, he and the team will not announce any new policies or spending now.

His spokesperson said Sir Keir told the meeting he wanted whoever became the next prime minister to succeed.

The PM added that he would "seek to resolve difficult issues in the coming weeks to support his successor" and "seek to make the transition as easy as possible".