British politician Andy Burnham is tipped to become the UK’s next prime minister, after Keir Starmer announced his resignation last week amid intense pressure from his own Labour PartyBurnham, who served as mayor of Greater Manchester since 2017 and won the Makerfield by-election earlier this month, could take the reins of a party that has been haemorrhaging votes, after disastrous local elections in May.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listAs Burnham promises a leadership challenge to replace Starmer – the most unpopular prime minister since polling began in the late 1970s, he will be forced to consider the party’s stance on Israel and its genocidal war on Gaza.Patrick Diamond, lecturer in public policy at Queen Mary University of London, UK, said it was too soon to tell whether the party’s foreign policy on Israel will shift dramatically should Burnham become prime minister.“Burnham would seek to urge all sides in the conflict to get around the negotiating table, and to end the violence as quickly as possible,” Diamond told Al Jazeera. “He will certainly be mindful of the danger of losing voters over the Gaza issue.”Local elections showed Labour lost more votes to the left-wing Green Party – which views Israel as an “apartheid” state and its military operations in Gaza as “genocide” – than to the far-right, anti-immigration party Reform UK.Additionally, polling commissioned by Save the Children UK, Christian Aid, and Medical Aid for Palestinians sugge …
