Andy Burnham to become Labour leader and will promise to ‘fix things politics has neglected’

Yet having been repeatedly warned that an increasingly aggressive Russia could attack parts of Europe by 2030, his own Defence Investment Plan did not expect Britain to become fully war-ready until around 2035.

With the support of 81 MPs needed to be nominated into the race, only Catherine West received one nomination from fellow MP Neil Coyle, while all the rest bar 26 MPs supported Mr Burnham.

Britain has become accustomed to shuffling through prime ministers at a rapid pace and is now poised to have its seventh leader in a decade.

As centre-left Labour has an overwhelming majority in parliament, the 56-year-old is set to replace Keir Starmer in 10 Downing Street on Monday, a mere four weeks after he sensationally returned as an MP following a nine-year absence.