Burnham pledges Britain reset as Widdecombe murder shocks Westminster

Andy Burnham used his first full day as prime minister to promise a "circuit-breaker for Britain" and "more breathing room" after the formal handover from Keir Starmer, setting out a new 10-year plan for Britain by the end of the year. His first instruction, he said, would be to end rough sleeping, putting homelessness at the top of an agenda he wants to use to define his government from day one.

The political reset was quickly overtaken by the killing of Ann Widdecombe, the former Maidstone MP who was 78 when she died in her Devon home in Haytor. Prosecutors told Westminster Magistrates' Court that Widdecombe had been hit on the head with a hammer 21 times while eating lunch at home, and the attack was described as "planned and targeted". She had represented Maidstone for 23 years before later becoming a Conservative minister and then a Reform UK spokesperson.

Police said there was "nothing to suggest it was politically motivated" even as Counter Terrorism Policing led the investigation. Joshua Kerry, 28, from Rotherham in South Yorkshire, was charged with Widdecombe's murder, and police said they were not looking for anyone else in connection with her death. The case has turned a private killing into a national security question, with questions now reaching beyond one suspect to the protection of elected politicians themselves.

Burnham responded by calling for a serious review of MPs' security after Widdecombe's death, saying politics had "darkened" over the decade he had been in it. That warning landed alongside front pages that split sharply between two stories: Burnham's opening day, cast by some as a power play in Downing Street, and the Widdecombe killing, which several papers splashed with the hammer attack at the top of the page. The contrast set up the week's likely political script, with one set of headlines pushing a new government and another forcing Westminster to confront violence, risk and the vulnerability of public life.