Record number of prime ministers line up at the Cenotaph for Remembrance Sunday after Burnham replaces Starmer in No10

Published: 06:30 EDT, 8 November 2026 | Updated: 06:39 EDT, 8 November 2026 Andy Burnham led a record number of prime ministers past and present at the Cenotaph today on Remembrance Sunday.Mr Burnham was joined by nine former premiers as he laid a wreath honouring Britain's war dead in Westminster.Sir John Major, Sir Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer lined up behind serving political leaders.The ten leaders attending the event in Whitehall is a modern record and highlights the fractured state of UK politics in the past decade. It is the first time Sir Keir has attended since being forced from office by Labour to make way for Mr Burnham earlier this year.And it marks the fifth time Ms Truss has attended since her 49-day premiership in the middle of 2022, the shortest in British political history. Her husband Hugh O'Leary joined other spouses including Sarah Brown, Victoria Starmer, Marie-France van Heel and Akshata Murty on a balcony to watch proceedings led by the King. Mr Burnham was joined by nine former premiers as he laid a wreath to Britain's war dead in Westminster It is the first time Sir Keir has attended since being forced from office by Labour to make way for Mr Burnham earlier this year It marks the fifth time Ms Truss has attended since her 49-day premiership in the middle of 2022, the shortest in British political historyTory leader Kemi Badenoch, Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey, Reform leader Nigel Farage, Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle were among the other political figures who laid floral tributes during the Sunday service.Mr Farage laid a wreath for the first time, his party having passed the six-MP threshold for being allowed to do so.Speaking to the BBC beforehand he said he was 'very honoured' to have been asked, but questioned why so many attended. 'I’ve grown up, you know, in a small village where the cost and loss to families was something that was talked about a lot, especially on this weekend and the run up to it every single year,' he said.'So, I mean, I’m very honoured personally to be doing it. Whether the public want to see row upon row of politicians is perhaps a separate debate we can have another time.'Green Party leader Zack Polanski was among those on a balcony of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office watching proceedings. King Charles was joined by members of the royal family and senior politicians at the National Service of Remembrance at the Cenotaph in central London.A gun was fired to mark the end of the silence before the Last Post was sounded by the Buglers of the Royal Marines.About 10,000 veterans took part in the Royal British Legion’s march-past after the service, with more than 300 different Armed Forces and civilian organisations represented.People of all ages will be among those marching – from bereaved children and military cadets, through to some of the last surviving veterans of the Second World War.A sea of poppies and military uniforms could be seen as hundreds of people lined Whitehall on Sunday morning for the service, gathering more than two hours before the ceremony.