Andy Burnham is in campaign mode - and he’d like to keep it that way
Although Andy Burnham's win in Makerfield was seismic, it was not a vote from the country at large, writes LBC's Bethany Dawson.
On Thursday evening, Labour's leader-in-waiting gave his first broadcast interview to LBC, setting out his economic pitch for the country he’s about to take charge of.
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This all builds on a major speech on Monday morning, where the Makerfield MP promised sweeping plans to devolve money and power away from central government, to oversee the “biggest council housebuilding programme since the postwar period,” and to boost state control of public services.
The Burnham ball is officially rolling, and Team Burnham have told LBC that he’ll be on a summer tour, “listening to the people in postcodes who need hope restored to them.”
While Labour does not want a general election — with the leading party currently trailing behind Nigel Farage’s Reform UK in the polls — it could be a secret win for Andy Burnham.
For one, it would keep the to-be Labour leader in campaign mode.
It would give this tour more urgency, more of a boost. A goal to win support, rather than just disseminate a message.
Of course, it would give Burnham an all-important mandate.
Although his win in Makerfield was seismic, it was not a vote from the country at large. Regardless of any summer tour or well-engineered social media video — he was not a part of Keir Starmer’s landslide 2024 win.
Burnham is not married to that winning manifesto, and with a coronation on the cards, he hasn’t even had a chance to win over the Labour membership.
An election would change that. It would stop opposition parties from having the ‘easy-win’ line that he has no mandate, undermining him at every opportunity.
And October could be the point where Burnham makes that all work.
If he conducts his summer tour, he can come back to parliament and use a major election announcement as — to use a Keir Starmerism — a ‘reset.’
He’ll dodge criticism, force energy through his Labour party, and be able to set his own agenda.
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Bethany Dawson is LBC's Political Correspondent.
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