Before Andy Burnham can unite Britain, he must unite Labour, writes Karl Turner MP

Politics is full of big promises about bringing the country together. Every leadership contender over the years has talked about healing divisions, restoring trust and offering a fresh start. But before any Labour leader can credibly claim they will unite Britain, they first have to demonstrate they can unite the Labour Party.

Andy Burnham has long presented himself as someone who speaks for working people beyond Westminster. As Mayor of Greater Manchester, he has shown that determined leadership, rooted in local communities, can make a real difference. He has been an effective advocate for devolution and has not been afraid to challenge governments of all colours when he believed the North was getting a raw deal.

Those are strengths. But leading a city region and leading a parliamentary party are very different jobs.

I’ve seen first-hand that political success is rarely about making the greatest speech or coming out on top in a television interview. It is more about building relationships, listening to colleagues and understanding that MPs are not simply numbers to be counted but representatives with their own mandates, constituencies and convictions.

It is often said that we are not delegates from our constituencies to Parliament; we are the representatives of the constituency with our own ideas of what’s best for the area we are privileged to represent.

So Parliamentary parties cannot be managed through media appearances or central diktats. They require trust. That trust is earned by involving colleagues in decision-making, respecting different viewpoints and recognising that healthy debate is a strength rather than a weakness.

Labour has paid a heavy electoral price whenever internal divisions have overshadowed the issues that matter most to voters. The public expects us to focus relentlessly on jobs, housing, public services, national security and the cost of living. Endless internal disputes convince nobody that we are ready to govern.

That does not mean demanding blind loyalty. Strong leaders are prepared to hear uncomfortable truths. They know that constructive criticism can prevent costly mistakes. The best leadership is confident enough to bring sceptics into the room rather than push them outside it.

Former Labour MP Dennis Skinner once told me that Tony Blair would often have him into his Prime Ministerial office behind the Speaker's chair. Tony would want to hear from Dennis on the contentious issues. Dennis would say that they’d talk through the particular policy and both men would leave the discussion, neither giving way, but it meant something that there had been consultation.

Skinner wouldn’t shy away from voting against the government if he thought that was the right position to take, but it mattered that he’d been asked, and for that Skinner would be loyal enough to resist shouting the odds at every given opportunity.

So if Andy Burnham wants to convince the country he can lead Labour to another era of national renewal, he will need to show that he can command the confidence not just of members and supporters, but of the Parliamentary Labour Party too.

That means investing time in colleagues, recognising the experience across the backbenches, and fostering a culture where MPs feel they have a genuine stake in the direction of the Party. He must also build a government of all the talents. It mustn’t be a box-ticking exercise. He must bring in MPs from the left of the Party as well as the Blairite middle.

Ultimately, governments succeed because they are built on teams, not individuals. No leader, however talented, governs alone. Every Prime Minister relies on ministers, MPs and campaigners pulling in the same direction.

The challenge for Labour is not simply to win the next election. It is to build a movement capable of governing effectively once it gets there. That starts with unity, not the artificial unity that comes from silencing disagreement, but the durable unity that comes from earning respect.

Before any Labour leader can unite Britain, they must first prove they can unite Labour.

That is the first test of leadership, and perhaps the most difficult and most important one.

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Karl Turner MP is the (Independent) Labour MP for Hull East.

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