LONDON, July 21. /TASS/. Nigel Farage, leader of Britain’s right-wing populist party Reform UK, described the appointment of Andy Burnham as the country’s new Prime Minister as a coup as he called for holding a general election as soon as possible.

"In the space of just a few short weeks, Andy Burnham has effectively crowbarred his way into No 10 without anyone even trying to block his path," Farage wrote in an opinion piece for The Daily Mail. "Make no mistake, this is a coup, plain and simple. There must be a General Election immediately," he argued.

Burnham, 56, was declared Labour leader on July 17 without a party election after no other candidates entered the race. On July 20, he took office as prime minister, replacing Kier Starmer who was forced to resign as Labour party leader and head of government amid pressure from the ruling party after it suffered major losses in local and regional elections in May.

According to the latest YouGov polling, Reform UK has the largest support in Britain (25%), followed by the Conservative party (20%) and the Labour party (19%). Green and Liberal Democrats hold forth (14%) and fifth (12%) place, respectively. The country should hold a regular general election no later than August 2029.