Andy Burnham: ‘King of the North’ Eyes UK Prime Minister Role

Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has announced plans to seek a parliamentary seat in Ashton-in-Makerfield, northern England, as UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces mounting pressure from within his Labour Party to resign.

Supporters consider Burnham the best candidate to replace Starmer by the Labour Party’s next annual conference in September.

Many party members seek a change after a series of missteps, culminating in poor local election results in early May.

Despite a decisive general election win in 2024, Labour now frequently trails the right-wing Reform party in opinion polls.

Ipsos polling found Starmer to be the most unpopular prime minister since its surveys began in the late 1970s.

Burnham, one of the party’s most popular politicians, is dubbed “King of the North” by the press and seen as a soft-left contender from outside London’s political elite. According to The Times, Burnham’s leadership rivals, including Starmer, are reportedly being asked to step aside should Burnham win a by-election.

The article poses questions about Burnham’s establishment credentials, background, and potential impact on domestic and global politics.

Analysts say Burnham’s appeal stems from his distance from the “Westminster bubble.” This perception was reinforced in February when Labour’s National Executive Committee, in a move seen as protecting Starmer, blocked Burnham from standing in the Manchester Gorton and Denton by-election, later won by the Green Party.

Burnham, who uses northern colloquialisms, emphasizes his outsider status but has served prominently on Labour’s front bench in government and opposition.

Before becoming Manchester mayor in 2017, he served as Chief Secretary to the Treasury and later Health Secretary under Gordon Brown, managing the 2008 financial crisis aftermath and NHS reform debates during austerity.

Burnham twice ran for Labour leadership. In 2010, after Gordon Brown resigned, he finished fourth behind Ed Miliband.

In 2015, after Ed Miliband stepped down, he came a distant second to Jeremy Corbyn.

His disillusionment with mainstream politics began in 2009 as culture secretary when he was heckled at a Hillsborough Disaster anniversary event, prompting a campaign for an inquiry.

“I realised was that the entire British state had been ignoring an English city crying out for justice for 20 years. It wasn’t just by accident. It was deliberate,” Burnham said in January. “I was thrown into crisis by that invitation because I was in a government that hadn’t done anything for the Liverpool supporters and the city of Liverpool.”

Despite an apparent final break with the political mainstream, his mayoral role has earned praise from locals and observers.

From his 2017 victory through re-elections in 2021 and 2024, Burnham has focused on expanding devolved powers for Greater Manchester, including transport, housing, and skills funding. He introduced bus franchising reforms (the Bee Network) to return services to public control, alongside initiatives on homelessness.

His high-profile clashes with Westminster during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially over funding for local restrictions, led the press to dub him “King of the North,” a humorous 2020 label now taken more seriously as his national profile grows.

Burnham’s conflicts with Labour extend beyond national issues.

In late October 2023, while most Labour members supported Israel, Burnham joined London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar in calling for a Gaza ceasefire.

Burnham has criticized Israeli settlements and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

He visited the occupied West Bank with Labour Friends of Palestine in 2012 and told the Palestine Solidarity campaign that statehood was “not a gift to be given but a right to be recognised.”

However, Burnham also supports Israel. A Labour Friends of Israel member since 2015, he said during his 2015 leadership campaign that his first state visit would be to Israel, and he dismissed the boycott Israel campaign as “spiteful.”

While a vocal critic of the War on Terror, Burnham voted for the Iraq war and twice opposed an inquiry.

In 2023, he conceded there was a case for removing Saddam Hussein but said: “I can’t justify the rage, the rhetoric, the haste with which it was done, nor the lack of a plan for the aftermath.”

“Because of that, the US-UK action resulted in huge harm to innocent civilians and the sense of injustice recruited some to the terrorists’ cause. If the response to 9/11 was supposed to root out terrorism, it is hard not to conclude it did anything but,” he wrote in The Independent.

Burnham also supports the UK’s traditional alliances.

He criticized Brexit, lambasting his party at last year’s conference for failing to “call out” its economic damage. At a fringe event, he said he hoped to see the UK rejoin the EU in his lifetime.

He has shown firm support for NATO, threatening to resign from Jeremy Corbyn’s cabinet if it decided to leave the alliance.

However, standing between Burnham and 10 Downing Street is an unscheduled by-election and the insurgent right-wing Reform Party.

Reform leader Nigel Farage told reporters the party will “throw absolutely everything” at the Ashton-in-Makerfield by-election.

So, while Burnham may enjoy the title of King of the North, his coronation remains uncertain.