The New Statesman.

Could Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham be the next Prime Minister?

I'm Anusha Kellyan and this is the New Statesman podcast.

He's bid for the Labour leadership twice and lost, but senior labour figures are increasingly favourable about Andy Burnham,

who George Eaton referred to as the King Over the Water in a recent piece for the new statesman, to which the Daily Mail responded with their usual gusto.

George is with me now, along with Rachel Cunliff. Hello, both of you.

Hello.

Hi. George, your story seems to have created quite a ripple in the political world.

Tell us what you found.

Yes, so I should say to start that, King Over the Water isn't, of course, my coinage. So I think it dates from Stuart Times when James Second was in exile, literally over the water,

over the channel in France.

And in every party, there's often a king over the

water under David Cameron, when he was prime minister, it was Boris Johnson, popular as mayor of

London, amongst both party members and voters, and who would regularly dissent on matters

of national policy and stray well beyond his brief. Under Labor, it's Andy

Burnham, who's filling this role. So several things. He's very popular amongst Labour members,

who would obviously decide any future leadership contest. He's got a sort of North Korean style

approve a rating of plus 78.

Um, UGov polling suggests he's the only senior labour figure who's actually has a positive

racing amongst Flotus plus plus seven.

And he's the public's preferred choice to succeed Stama.

And he hasn't been shy about making his pitch. So as I previously reported at the

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