• British Prime Minister Keir Starmer visits France for Bastille Day celebrations and meets with world leaders, including French President Macron and German Chancellor Merz.
• Andy Burnham is set to become the new leader of the Labour Party after securing the backing of 349 lawmakers, making it mathematically impossible for another candidate to challenge him.
• Burnham outlines his priorities for the country, including devolving power to communities, improving growth, and tackling the cost of living, while pledging to lead from the front on changing the culture within the Labour Party.

Keir Starmer continued his final visit to France as British prime minister on Tuesday after Andy Burnham, a former mayor, was effectively confirmed as his successor.

Starmer is expected to attend Bastille Day celebrations alongside other world leaders in Paris, where troops from the Grenadier Guards will march alongside the French Garde Republicaine.

The celebrations follow Starmer's final "Coalition of the Willing" summit on Monday, at which fellow leaders Emmanuel Macron, Volodymyr Zelensky and Friedrich Merz paid tribute to his impact on the world stage.

French President Macron told Starmer that "we owe you a lot, Prime Minister", while Merz, the German chancellor, said he would "phone you occasionally to get your opinion on this or that."

Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, thanked Starmer for his "constant, steadfast support", which the prime minister said would continue under his successor.

That successor is now guaranteed to be Andy Burnham, the former Greater Manchester mayor, who secured the backing of 349 Labour Party lawmakers on Monday.

With only 54 Labour members of parliament yet to nominate someone for the leadership, it is now mathematically impossible for another candidate to secure the 81 supporters necessary to mount a late challenge to succeed Starmer.

But Burnham will only be officially confirmed as the new leader on Friday, and will formally take over from Starmer three days later on July 20.

Despite being the only candidate, Burnham took part in an online hustings with Labour MPs on Monday.

Party sources said he used the event to set out his priorities for the country, including devolving power to communities, improving growth across the UK and tackling the cost of living.

He also paid tribute to Starmer for delivering on his promise of a Hillsborough Law, which is expected to clear the Commons on Tuesday after a deal to bring spies within its "duty of candour."

And he pledged to lead from the front on changing the culture within Labour, promising to be more accountable and accessible to MPs and appoint cabinet ministers from across the party.