Vice President JD Vance said Britain has been "failed by its leadership for a long time" and told the "The Sunday Times" he hopes Andy Burnham, the frontrunner to replace outgoing Prime Minister Keir Starmer, can deliver the "structural change" voters are demanding after a decade of political upheaval in London.

The interview, published over the July 4 weekend, came as the U.K. moves toward its seventh prime minister in a decade.

Starmer announced his resignation as Labour leader on June 22, after months of internal revolt, disastrous May local elections, and the return to Parliament of his rival, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, who won the Makerfield by-election on June 18.

Nominations to succeed Starmer open July 9, and Burnham has so far emerged as the sole serious contender.

Vance framed the churn as a symptom, not the disease.

"What I see is six prime ministers in the last few years," he told the paper, arguing that the pace of turnover signaled something "very broken about British politics" and that voters were "really crying out for significant structural change." He said he hoped Burnham, "and if not Andy Burnham, somebody else," could deliver it.

Britain is "amazing, but it’s been failed by its leadership for a long time."

The vice president tempered the critique with affection for the country itself, calling Britain "a beautiful country" and "such an amazing place."

Vance, whose wife, Usha, studied at the University of Cambridge, said Britain "feels more culturally familiar to me than any country on Earth, aside from my own." He added that the administration would work with whichever leader emerges "as successfully as we can."

Vance's remarks echo President Donald Trump's recent broadsides against the outgoing prime minister.

When Starmer's exit appeared imminent, Trump posted on Truth Social that the Labour leader had failed badly on immigration and energy policy, singling out restrictions on North Sea oil and gas drilling.

"Keir Starmer will resign as Prime Minister of The United Kingdom. He failed badly on two very important subjects- IMMIGRATION AND ENERGY (OPEN NORTH SEA OIL!). I wish him well! President DJT"

Relations between the two leaders, initially cordial, soured after Starmer declined to back the U.S. war with Iran earlier this year.

Trump has separately described Burnham as "extremely liberal" and predicted the presumptive next prime minister would not reopen the North Sea to expanded fossil fuel production, a policy shift the White House has pushed London to make.

Vance, for his part, said he did not know much about Burnham but was prepared to engage.