What is Andy Burnham’s “Manchesterism”?
The Politics Show
The New Statesman
4.2 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 18 May 2026
⏱️ 41 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Andy Burnham is running in a by-election in Makerfield, which is likely to be held on 18 June, to return to Parliament as an MP. If he wins, he will be the frontrunner in a contest to replace Keir Starmer as Prime Minister.
Burnham’s personal brand of politics is often referred to as “Manchesterism”. So, what is it?
Anoosh Chakelian is joined by The New Statesman’s editor-in-chief Tom McTague, who profiled Andy Burnham back in September.
LISTEN: https://www.newstatesman.com/podcasts/politics-podcast/2025/09/andy-burnham-has-a-plan-for-britain-2
READ: https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2025/09/exclusive-andy-burnhams-plan-for-britain
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The New Statesman. |
| 0:06.1 | Andy Burnham is running in a by-election in Makerfield, |
| 0:09.0 | which is likely to be held on the 18th of June, |
| 0:11.6 | to return to Parliament as an MP. |
| 0:14.0 | If he wins, he'll be the front-runner in a contest to replace Kirstama as Prime Minister. |
| 0:19.3 | However, Nigel Farage's reform is already taking the fight to Burnham for the seat in Wigan, Greater Manchester, |
| 0:25.6 | having won 50% of the vote in the Makerfield constituency wars versus Labour's 23% during the local elections. |
| 0:33.6 | It will be a crucial contest. A Burnham victory could prove he can beat reform. A reform victory is a huge scout in its campaign to defeat Labour. |
| 0:42.4 | I'm Anusha Kellyan, and this is the politics show from the new statesman. I'm joined by our editor-in-chief Tom McTagg. |
| 0:48.3 | Hi, Tom. Today we're going to focus on Andy Burnham's personal brand of politics and also his program, what is often referred to |
| 0:55.2 | as Manchesterism and how he could sort of graft that onto his country. He gave you his plan for |
| 1:00.2 | Britain back in September, didn't he, when you did a big profile of him. And actually, you and Will |
| 1:06.1 | Lloyd, our deputy editor, had a long conversation about that profile back then. So do go and dig out the |
| 1:13.2 | episode, anyone who didn't listen to it at the time, because it gives you a really good idea |
| 1:16.7 | of what Andy Burnham believes. We'll put it in the show notes. But first, let's catch up on the |
| 1:21.0 | updates over the weekend. So this by-election has been called. It's existing MP Josh Simon's, a new |
| 1:27.3 | MP, not ideologically aligned to |
| 1:29.8 | Andy Burnham, decided to stand down from his seat and the NEC, the body, Labor's ruling body |
| 1:36.3 | that didn't allow Burnham to run in the Gorton and Denton by-election, as our listeners will |
| 1:40.3 | remember, has allowed Burnham to go for this one. So what was going on there? What was |
| 1:46.0 | Josh Simon's thinking? I think a lot of MPs are asking that right now. And a lot of them |
| 1:52.7 | are mistrustful of him or distrustful of him about his motivations for that. I think to give |
... |
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