Here's how the UK went through 6 prime ministers in 7 years

[00:00:00]Britain officially has a new Prime Minister. In his first speech on the job, Andy Burnham said the country needed a reset and vowed to deliver a new plan for Britain. CBS News senior foreign correspondent MTS Tyab introduces us.

[00:00:12]>> Well, the man who's often been called the king of the north is now the main occupant behind me at 10 Downing Street.

[00:00:19]We of course have heard from Andy Burnham in his first speech as Prime Minister after he [music] met with the king that's part of a formality before entering 10 Downing Street. And it was really clear that he was really speaking to many of the issues that many people [music] here in Britain really are suffering with and that is of course the cost of living and the sense that previous governments just really haven't addressed many of the key issues that they need and even bigger issues like, you know, nationalizing certain utilities that have become privatized over the years resulting in poor services and higher costs. And these are animating features here. I wouldn't say it was the most inspiring of speeches, but it certainly was some design to speak to people who feel like previous leaders just were not listening to them and were not really wanting to sort of put forth an agenda that will meet the needs that they face and the issues that they face. Whatever the case, he has an enormous task ahead of him. This is at a time when Britain has perhaps been more polarized than it's ever been and that's saying a lot given the fact that this is also a country >> [music] >> which has seen seven Prime Ministers in a decade. So again, Andy Burnham, the new Prime Minister, he's now occupying 10 Downing Street behind him behind me rather and he has a lot in his inbox as he starts his first day as the UK's new PM. Back to you.

[00:01:41]>> MTS Tyab, thank you. So how did the British government get to the point of having seven Prime Ministers over the last decade? It began with Brexit when the UK voted to leave the European Union. The Prime Minister at the time, conservative David Cameron, campaigned against it and stepped down the day after the British public voted to leave.

[00:01:58]That set the stage for the UK's second ever female Prime Minister, Conservative Theresa May, who critics said was defined by her failed attempts to negotiate a separation agreement between the UK and EU. She was replaced after 3 years by Conservative Boris Johnson, a major figure in the Brexit movement.

[00:02:15]Johnson secured a separation deal, but faced multiple political scandals, the final of which was dubbed Partygate when he and his staff violated COVID-19 lockdown laws. In September of 2022, Conservative Liz Truss took over for 49 days, the shortest tenure in British history, after reaction to her budget proposal which called for tens of billions in cuts and caused the pound to plummet. Her replacement, Conservative Rishi Sunak, struggled to overcome the economic crisis and ongoing ramifications of the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. After 20 months in office, he was ousted, ending the 14-year reign of Conservative leadership. The Labour Party won in a landslide, and its leader Keir Starmer ascended to Prime Minister, but after 2 years, he was undone by multiple political scandals, including his appointment of Peter Mandelson as the UK's ambassador to the US despite concerns over his connections to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that came up in the official vetting process. Now, former Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham takes over the Labour's control of the British government. Now, part of the why there is so much leadership turnover in this British system is because there are more ways to oust a Prime Minister. Since the PM is chosen by their peers and not directly elected, they can be removed by a leadership challenge from within their own party or by a vote of no confidence from a majority of lawmakers in the House of Commons. Theresa May and Boris Johnson faced leadership challenge votes, but while they both survived, they resigned shortly after.