Burnham v Starmer: The King of the North heads South
Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government
Institute for Government
4.5 • 278 Ratings
🗓️ 19 June 2026
⏱️ 45 minutes
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| 0:00.0 | Everyone knows that politics isn't working. |
| 0:11.0 | Everyone can feel that the country isn't where it should be. |
| 0:14.0 | Tonight could, just could, be a turning point. |
| 0:18.0 | So said Andy Burnham after winning the Makerfield by-election. |
| 0:22.2 | The king of the north is heading south. |
| 0:25.0 | But what will he do when he gets there? |
| 0:27.6 | I'm Hannah White, and this is Inside Rearing the podcast from the Institute for Government. |
| 0:33.2 | Yes, Andy Burnham is returning to Parliament after winning the Makerfield by-election, |
| 0:38.0 | holding off Reform UK by a margin of more than 9,000 votes, a big win, |
| 0:43.8 | and one which puts even more pressure on Kirstama. |
| 0:46.8 | So what happens next? |
| 0:48.4 | How should the Prime Minister, who insists he would compete in any leadership contest, respond? |
| 0:54.1 | What does this period of volatility mean for how government works? who insists he would compete in any leadership contest, respond. |
| 0:58.2 | What does this period of volatility mean for how government works? |
| 1:03.0 | And what would a Prime Minister Andy Burnham mean for the way Britain is governed, |
| 1:06.4 | so much to discuss on a huge day for British politics? |
| 1:09.3 | IFG senior fellow, Kath Haddon, is here. |
| 1:31.3 | Were you up for the make-a-field result, Kath? Not on purpose. I woke up a bit before four, and then thought, yes, I will have a look, because otherwise I'll just be wondering, and then had a look, and then obviously doomscrolled for a bit, and then went back to sleep. And IFG senior fellow, Giles Wilkes is dialing into. I'm sure you were following the polls all the way up for the count. Did you predict the result, Jals? |
| 1:31.3 | I did the very dull thing of watching the betting markets, Hannah, and I saw that once it gets to 10 to 1, it's a freak for the bookies to be wrong. So I kind of went to bed fairly confident that the result was going to be like this. |
| 1:44.2 | So wasn't all that surprised by the 20-point victory? And I am delighted that we are joined again by |
| 1:49.1 | Raphael Bear, political columnist and leader-writer at The Guardian and host of the Politics on the |
| 1:54.1 | Couch podcast and a veteran of many by-elections, Raf, but none quite like this one, I guess. |
... |
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