Andy Burnham the 'TikTok PM' is getting Gen Z to listen - and they don't think he's cringe

In Burnham, Britain finally has a politician who relishes the theatre of politics - a drastic contrast from Starmer, who appeared as enthusiastic about performing for the cameras as someone about to undergo a root canal. His pathological inability to inspire any kind of optimism among his MPs ultimately accelerated his political downfall.

Despite being PM for less than a fortnight, Burnham's TikTok and Instagram accounts have thrummed with a steady rhythm of cheery content; from collaborations with Mo Farah and the viral influencer "Bus Aunty" (famed for her viral clips celebrating London's red buses) to chatty self-filmed clips addressing homelessness and energy costs.

Meanwhile, a clip featuring him and the Chancellor John Healey blind-ranking pub snacks, released to promote his announcement of a 20% cut in pub business rates, has reached two million views across Instagram and TikTok.

His approach couldn't mark more of a departure from Starmer - whose social media videos have swiftly been exorcised from No10's Instagram platform.

Burnham has predictably been derided for his forays into social media, with critics mockingly branding him the "social media" Prime Minister, labelling his clips "cringe" and "naff." These criticisms are short-sighted.

In 2026, TikTok and Instagram are the most important stages that any politician who cares about reaching Gen Z, who don't read newspapers or listen to the radio, must master. Many of his critics will be precisely those who decry the lack of political engagement among Gen Z, forgetting that the best remedy is to meet young people where they are.

And Burnham is the first British PM who has managed to do it.

Since becoming Prime Minister last Monday, his TikTok following has exploded by almost 300%, rising from 99,000 to 392.1K, while several of his videos have surpassed one million views, including a chatty clip talking through his first week in office, which has reached 2.5 million views.

The reason for his success? Burnham had the good fortune to learn from Starmer's mistakes, but he's also got a personality much better suited to the performative demands of politics.

I'm surprised to be saying this, but Burnham's videos don't come across as toe-curlingly cringe. He comes across as natural and warm, both self-assured and informal.

I asked a few of my non-political Gen Z friends and family for their thoughts on Burnham's TikTok forays. The sentiment was that they found his demeanour refreshing and human (one said she was surprised to find herself "actually inclined to like him personally").

Where I do worry about this new age of government by social media is in Burnham's apparent penchant for recruiting influencers to propound the government message while simultaneously avoiding the traditional media.

Since his election to Parliament just over a month ago, Burnham has been accused of avoiding taking questions from journalists after major speeches and shying away from TV interviews. The rise of social media, and with it the ability for celebrities to communicate directly with their audiences, is one of the reasons we've seen the erosion of entertainment journalism over the years. It makes the mainstream media dispensable as a vehicle for messaging, unleashing the opportunity to exercise much more control over their public image.

Politics is different. Politicians aren't celebrities - they are democratically elected, publicly accountable officials who make decisions affecting thousands of people's lives. Influencers on the government payroll won't ask the government knotty questions it would rather not answer about new policies. As he fashions himself as Britain's first TikTok PM, Burnham shouldn't use social media as a shield against facing up to the press.

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Issy Clarke is a digital journalist at LBC.

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