Andy Burnham officially became the UK’s new Prime Minister on Monday after meeting King Charles III at Buckingham Palace, succeeding Keir Starmer as Labour Party leader and the UK’s seventh PM since 2016. He wasted no time signalling a shift in approach, announcing a major cabinet overhaul alongside plans for a 10-year strategy to tackle the cost-of-living crisis.
The reshuffle brought several big names into new roles, with John Healey moving into the chancellor’s post, Ed Miliband taking over as foreign secretary, and Wes Streeting stepping into the defence portfolio. Burnham’s new cabinet also features two Indian-origin MPs, with Kanishka Narayan named as the country’s minister for artificial intelligence and Lisa Nandy staying on as culture secretary.
From Bihar to Britain, the rise of Kanishka Narayan
Britain’s new Prime Minister Andy Burnham has handed Kanishka Narayan the role of AI minister, a position that will now carry a seat at the cabinet table for the first time. Narayan had been serving as junior minister for AI and online safety since September 2025, appointed under Burnham’s predecessor Keir Starmer, and worked under technology secretary Liz Kendall, who was among the senior Starmer-era ministers removed by Burnham this week.
Born in Muzaffarpur, Bihar, he moved to Cardiff with his family at the age of 12, went on to study at Eton College, and later completed his education at Oxford before earning an MBA from Stanford. After finishing his studies, he built a career in global technology, splitting time between Silicon Valley and the UK, where he backed entrepreneurs working in AI, fintech, and climate solutions, and also spent time at the investment bank Lazard, advising British company boards, government finance ministries, and tech founders across Europe and the US.
Narayanโs entry into British politics
Narayan entered British politics in 2024, winning the Vale of Glamorgan seat, a constituency Labour hadn’t held in 14 years. With this victory, he became the first ethnic minority MP in Welsh history. Before his ministerial appointment, he served as Parliamentary Private Secretary at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, a role he held from July 2024 until September 2025.
Between 2021 and 2023, he also served as a trustee of a Citizens Advice bureau, while sitting on the advisory panel of Chatham House, Britain’s leading foreign policy think tank, during the same period.
Lisa Nandy: The other Indian-origin face in Burnham’s Cabinet
Lisa Nandy is the second Indian-origin MP to find a place in Andy Burnham’s reshuffled Cabinet, holding onto her post as Culture Secretary, a role she was first given under Keir Starmer. Born in Manchester in 1979, she is the daughter of Dipak Nandy, who came from Kolkata, and Luise Byers, who is of British origin.
Nandy studied at Parrs Wood High School and Holy Cross College before going on to read politics at Newcastle University and public policy at Birkbeck, University of London. Before entering politics, she worked as an aide to Walthamstow MP Neil Gerrard, took up research work at the homelessness charity Centrepoint, and later served as a senior policy adviser at The Children’s Society.
From Wigan to Westminster’s top table
In 2010, Nandy was picked as Labour’s candidate for Wigan, a seat the party had held for over a century, and won it with a majority of 10,487, becoming the constituency’s first female and first Asian MP. She ran for the top job herself in 2020, standing against Starmer and finishing third, a campaign that earned her the description “refreshingly untribal.” However, the bid still landed her the role of shadow foreign secretary.
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