Andy Burnham aims to oust Keir Starmer as UK Prime Minister. Who are you? – Nationally
Andy Burnham is a political insider turned outsider aiming to become Britain’s next prime minister.
The 56-year-old politician presents himself as a lovable northerner who prefers T-shirts to suits and ties and spends his free time playing football or spinning 1990s tunes during DJ battles.
He is also a seasoned politician whose career has taken him from senior government jobs to mayor of Greater Manchester, and now to the prime minister’s office.
Burnham is expected to challenge Prime Minister Keir Starmer after winning a seat in Parliament in a special election he hailed as a “transformation” in UK politics.
His nickname was inspired by ‘Game of Thrones’
Burnham was born and raised in a pocket of northwest England between Liverpool and Manchester, the son of a British Telecom engineer and receiver. He joined the Labor Party at a young age, studied at Cambridge University and was first elected to Parliament in 2001.
He was a lawyer for a decade and a half, rising under Prime Minister Tony Blair and serving in Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Cabinet between 2007 and 2010.
He ran twice for the leadership of the Labor Party, in 2010 and 2015, and lost badly each time, before quitting Westminster to run for mayor of Manchester.
His tenure has seen him nicknamed the King of the North, a “Game of Thrones”-inspired nod to his conquest of his home state and his hidden political ambitions.
Get the latest country news
Get the best Canadian news delivered to your inbox as it happens so you never miss a trending story.
He earned the moniker during the COVID-19 crisis, when he blasted Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson for what he called a “London-centric” approach to the crisis.
Burnham has led the Greater Manchester region since 2017, overseeing the regeneration of the city where the Industrial Revolution was founded. The city center is booming, with buildings popping up in vacant post-industrial areas. Many residents praise him for fighting for the city. He took over a small public transport system under public control, called it the Bee Network and improved its services.
He also received praise for supporting the campaign for justice for the victims of the Hillsborough disaster, in which 97 Liverpool football fans were killed at a game in Sheffield in 1989. Years of advocacy led by the victims’ families exposed mistakes and wrongdoing by the police – who first spread a false story blaming drunken fans – and issued a report to the government.
He promises to end the bad economy
Burnham is considered to the political left of Starmer – an asset with Labor members – and is regarded as one of the party’s best negotiators. The tough public speaker in his previous leadership bid has been replaced by a relaxed man in jeans and open-necked shirts.
His victory in three mayoral elections and his victory in Thursday’s by-election in Makerfield, where he defeated the candidate of the anti-immigration party Reform UK, cemented his position as the winner. Many in the party hope he can reverse the sharp decline in Labour’s popularity since Starmer’s landslide election victory two years ago.
Makerfield voter Ellen Picton, 66, said she was “delighted” with Burnham’s victory.
“I believe he is a man of ordinary people,” he said. “Andy is like one of us, and he understands what we’re going through.”
Burnham vows to repeat at a national level his signature “Manchesterism” – politics, as he likes to say, that puts the people before the party and focuses on the boroughs neglected by London governments.
“What we have built in Greater Manchester should come from the rest of the country,” said Burnham during the campaign. “I know what it’s like to change places.”
But it remains to be seen whether he can apply it nationally, said Tim Bale, a professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London.
“To call him the King of the North in some way, I think it raises the question of whether he can be the King of the South, the King of the East and the King of the West,” said Bale.
In a speech to his supporters after the election, Burnham outlined his priorities: better vocational education and jobs for young people, lower electricity bills and rail fares and “an end to the recession, which didn’t really hit places like this.”
Critics say Burnham’s politics are vague and fail to address tough issues, such as where the money will come from to pay for his promises. And they realize that managing a country of 70 million people is very different from managing a city-state of three million people.
However, Burnham now has the momentum to land him in 10 Downing Street.
“Andy Burnham is probably one of the most popular politicians in the country,” Bale said. “Or, to be honest, that doesn’t mean much.”
© 2026 The Canadian Press
