‘Our Andy’ is, of course, Manchester – and Manchester is, of course, him. In recognition of that, no worshipper at the Church of Burnham is more devoted than the city’s local paper, the Manchester Evening News.
On May 9, two days after the local elections, the MEN’s front-page splash headline was ‘Cometh the Hour,’ over a montage of a smiling, hands-in-pockets Burnham, Union flags fluttering behind him, Parliament and a map of the UK in the background.
Under Reach ownership both the MEN and the other great north-west paper, the Liverpool Echo, have become mouthpieces for the region’s political elites
‘Andy Burnham’s name carries a particular kind of affection in Greater Manchester. It’s an attachment that often feels more personal than political,’ fawned the copy, which ran to almost the whole of pages four and five. ‘A figure rooted in place rather than ambition alone… A Labour politician who appears to offer something the national party currently does not – visibility, confidence and a sense of direction…’
‘The answer points not just to Manchester as a model, but to Andy Burnham as its political expression. The answer to Labour’s problems is not around the cabinet table. It is not in Westminster waiting to be found. It is already in Manchester. It is Andy Burnham.’
