The British Prime Minister has cleared his diary for two days after his father died after an illness.
Former telephone engineer Roy Burnham, the father of newly installed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Andy Burnham, has died age 85.
The Prime Minister has previously spoken of how his father had been struggled with brain disease Alzheimer’s Dementia, which ultimately meant he was unaware his son had taken Britain’s top political job.
Nevertheless, Burnham said his father had been able to watch his arriving at Downing Street for the first time on television at his care home.
Prime Minister Burnham has cancelled all engagements on Monday and Tuesday to spend time with his family.
The notion of a Deputy Prime Minister who leads government if the principal is indisposed is a relatively recent idea in British politics and often one isn’t officially appointed, such as is the case now. Nevertheless, the present First Secretary of State Louise Haigh defacto holds the role.
Haigh is a key ally to Prime Minister Burnham and was deeply involved in engineering his return to Westminster politics to become Prime Minister in something of a palace coup. Nevertheless, she is best known to some for having been forced to resign from the previous Labour government after it transpired she had a previous conviction for misleading police over a false report of a theft.