The BBC chartered a helicopter to follow a train. Andy Burnham was on that train, travelling from Manchester to London after a decade as Greater Manchester’s mayor, and Breitbart reported that the broadcaster’s gesture captured the fever around him.
He returned to the House of Commons on Monday. The United Kingdom is set to see its seventh prime minister in ten years, and the man most likely to take the job describes himself as a socialist.
Breitbart reported that Burnham’s return had been orchestrated over the past year as outgoing Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer lost public confidence. Starmer blocked Burnham’s first bid for a Commons seat in the Gorton and Denton by-election in January. But he could not stop the second attempt after anti-censorship activist Josh Simons vacated Makerfield following last month’s local elections, in which Labour lost ground to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.
Burnham won the Makerfield by-election convincingly. Labour’s top brass decided he was the party’s best shot at keeping Farage out of Downing Street. Health Minister Wes Streeting quickly announced support.
But which Burnham would arrive in Westminster?
A Blairite past, a socialist present
He entered Parliament in 2001 under Tony Blair’s New Labour, serving as parliamentary private secretary to two Blairite cabinet ministers. He voted for the Iraq war.
He later said he regretted the vote.
Under Gordon Brown he became Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2007 to 2008, then spent two years as culture secretary. He stayed in the shadow cabinet while Labour was in opposition.
He left Westminster and rebranded himself as Mayor of Greater Manchester. During the coronavirus lockdowns he won the nickname “King of the North” for pressing London to share recovery funds outside the capital.
His recent campaign was vague. He spoke of “unity and hope” against “the divided, dark politics of the kind we see in the United States.” He has promised to bring utilities under “stronger public control” and supports full nationalisation of Thames Water. The government has warned nationalising the entire water industry could cost £100 billion.
Burnham once said he wanted to rejoin the European Union. He now says the country should not rehash the battles of the Brexit vote.
What remains unclear is how Burnham would bring the economy back to growth or what his migration policy would be.
The Farage demand
Nigel Farage has called on Burnham to hold a snap election if installed, arguing he has no democratic mandate.
