“He is basically defying all expectations among those of us who thought changing the party leadership was a bad thing,” said a former Labour MP and current power broker, a colleague of Andy Burnham when he first entered parliament in 2001, The Irish Times reported on Wednesday.
Traveling from Turkey on Thursday afternoon, Andy Burnham arrives in Dublin four months after taking office over the summer to participate in the European Political Community summit and the subsequent leaders’ dinner alongside roughly 50 other heads of government. As he takes his seat around the table at the National Gallery, he arrives as the leader who took Labour from the verge of third place to first in opinion polls.
Burnham Maintains Popularity Through Populist Interventions
Burnham has maintained his status as officially the most popular politician and party leader in Britain, standing as the only one with a positive YouGov rating. British voters have responded positively to his mix of populist interventions, such as capping bus fares and targeting bad etiquette on public transport, while he simultaneously stretches the debate on whether Britain should ever rejoin the European Union.
“Any of us who had been through the trauma of the Blair-Brown changeover were cautious about what was happening,” said the former MP. “But for the first time in Labour history, we have had a bloodless coup. That is mostly down to his approach.”
Following the ouster of Keir Starmer from Downing Street, a different Labour lawmaker referenced the standard phrase repeatedly used by Burnham’s staff throughout the summer to characterize the power transfer.
“Andy promised a ‘smooth and orderly transition’,” said the parliamentarian. “Well, we’ve had it. Other than one or two whose noses are out of joint – including Keir himself – mostly everybody is on-board. That’s testament to Andy’s emotional intelligence and charisma.”
Sacking Darren Jones Caused Cabinet Friction
Darren Jones, who managed Starmer’s influential cabinet office, is noted as one of the few prominent former Starmer loyalists rumored to harbor some resentment toward Burnham. Burnham sacked Jones, who has responded by occasionally carping from the sidelines.
“If you asked Burnham’s team, they would privately acknowledge that sacking Darren was probably a mistake,” said a source. “They would say that they wanted the cabinet to look fresher at the time. But it just disgruntled Darren.”
About 30 ministers at all levels were moved on when Burnham took over from Starmer, though many received assurances that it is not the end of the road for them. Another former Labour member from the 2001 intake described the public witness to a “new, improved Andy” who is a “pragmatic idealist” as he settles into Downing Street.
The Westminster lobby media pack complains that Burnham is less open to formal scrutiny than his predecessors, pointing to his refusal to bring a travelling press pack to Antigua for a Commonwealth meeting. He engages with the mainstream media regularly but prefers viral social media videos overseen by digital communications guru Abby Tomlinson.
In September, Burnham had a video face-off against Taoiseach Micheál Martin over tea quality and discussed his favourite bar snack of salt and vinegar crisps with Chancellor John Healey. Another video showed him fluttering his eyelashes after Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch remarked upon them in the House of Commons.
Ministers Report Burnham Behaves as He Appears on Television
A senior Labour figure said that cabinet ministers report Burnham behaves in private exactly as he appears on television. Colleagues joke that he gets his eight hours of sleep and always looks fresher than they do.
“He doesn’t have temper tantrums like some of his predecessors,” the senior figure said. “Cabinet ministers also say he takes an interest in their briefs and is engaging about it, while Keir wasn’t interested in what most of them were doing.”
A Labour parliamentarian who has known Burnham for decades said he “has a massive ego, and he can get quite emotional”.
“But if anything, I think he is even more emotional now than he was when he was younger,” the parliamentarian said. “The stuff about bad behaviour on trains, how he thinks his beloved Everton football club were treated unfairly etc, these things really do motivate him.”
Westminster awaits Burnham’s upcoming 10-year plan for Britain, which will outline how he intends to address defence spending, youth unemployment and welfare reform. The plan is expected before the end of the year or early next year amid a fresh cost-of-living crisis driven by rising energy costs.
“We shall see,” said a Labour source. “The jury is still out on how he would ever cope with being disliked.”
