Jill Lawless, Danica Kirkka and Staff reporterJune 22, 2026 — 6:44pmLondon: Andy Burnham is a political insider turned outsider who aims to be Britain’s next prime minister.The 56-year-old presents himself as an amiable northern everyman who prefers T-shirts to a suit and tie and spends his spare time playing soccer or spinning 1990s tunes during DJ battles.He’s also an experienced politician whose career has taken him from high-level government jobs to the mayoralty of Greater Manchester, and now to the cusp of the prime minister’s office.Burnham is expected to contest the leadership after winning a seat in parliament in a byelection last week, and Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s decision on Monday to resign as Labour leader.He has a Game of Thrones-inspired nicknameBurnham was born and raised in a pocket of north-west England between Liverpool and Manchester, the son of a British Telecom engineer and a receptionist. He joined the Labour Party as a teenager, attended Cambridge University and was first elected to parliament in 2001.Andy Burnham is seen by Labour MPs as a better communicator and more popular politician than Keir Starmer.BloombergBurnham will be anxious to avoid a similar fate to that of the original King of the North, Robb Stark (Richard Madden).He was an MP for a decade and a half, rising through the ranks under prime minister Tony Blair and serving in prime minister Gordon Brown’s cabinet between 2007 and 2010.He ran twice for the leadership of the Labour Party, in 2010 and 2015, and lost badly each time, before quitting Westminster to run for Manchester mayor.His tenure led to him being nicknamed “the King of the North”, a Game of Thrones-inspired nod both to his championing of his home region and his barely disguised political ambition.He gained the moniker during the COVID-19 pandemic, when he harangued Conservative prime minister Boris Johnson over what he called a “London-centric” approach to the crisis.Burnham has led the Greater Manchester region since 2017, overseeing rapid regeneration for the city where the Industrial Revolution was forged.The city centre has boomed, with skyscrapers blooming on vacant post-industrial sites. Many residents praise him for championing the city. He took a piecemeal public transport system under public control, branded it the Bee Network and improved its services.He has also won praise for supporting the campaign for justice for victims of the Hillsborough disaster, when 97 Liverpool football fans were killed in a crush at a game in Sheffield in 1989. Years of advocacy led by victims’ families exposed mistakes and wrongdoing by police – who initially spread a false narrative blaming drunken fans – and extracted an apology from the government.Manchester’s skyline has transformed over recent decades, but some locals say they have been priced out.BloombergVoters think he has the ‘X-factor’Burnham is perceived to be to the political left of Starmer – an asset with Labour members – and is acknowledged as one of the party’s best communicators. The rather stiff public speaker of his earlier leadership bids has been replaced by a relaxed figure in jeans and open-necked shirts.His three mayoral election victories and decisive win in the Makerfield race, where he trounced the candidate of Nigel Farage’s populist insurgent Reform UK party, have cemented his status as a winner. Many in the party hope he can reverse Labour’s precipitous decline in popularity since Starmer won an election landslide two years ago.Makerfield voter Ellen Picton, 66, said she was “absolutely thrilled” by Burnham’s victory.“I believe that he’s a man for the common people,” she said. “Andy is like one of us, and he understands what we are going through.”Burnham is pledging to repeat on a national scale his signature brand of “Manchesterism” – a politics that, he likes to say, puts people and place before party and centres on regions ignored by governments in London.“What we’ve built in Greater Manchester needs to go national,” Burnham said during the campaign. “I know what it is to turn places around.”But it remained to be seen whether that appeal would work at the national level, said Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London.Burnham built a campaign on his grassroots, everyman credentials – but will it work at a national level? Getty Images“Calling him King of the North in some ways, I think, raises the question of whether he can also be King of the South, King of the East and King of the West,” Bale said.“However, he does seem to have the kind of X factor that encourages people to think of him as not an ordinary politician, somebody who can communicate with normal people, someone who can speak human.”He’s a massive music fanBurnham’s love of music has long been a core part of his political brand.His election campaign videos for Makerfield were soundtracked by homegrown stars Oasis, Elbow and James, and his slogan “Change Labour, Keep the Faith” – was directly inspired by the 1960s and ’70s northern soul era, which had its epicentre at the legendary Wigan Casino nightclub.Burnham has been a tireless advocate of Manchester’s music scene during his time as mayor and was reportedly instrumental in the city’s recent hosting of the UK’s two biggest music award ceremonies, the Brits and the MOBOs. Burnham also apparently orchestrated Liam Gallagher’s temporary gig as the voice of Manchester's onboard tram announcements during Oasis’ 2025 homecoming shows.“Ordinarily, we wouldn’t ally ourselves with a politician,” Elbow’s Guy Garvey told The Guardian, explaining why his band allowed Burnham to use their song One Day Like This. “But these aren’t ordinary times and Andy isn’t an ordinary man.”He wants to tax the rich and fund social housingIn an interview with London’s Telegraph last September, Burnham set out his vision for a high-tax, high-spend economy.Burnham came up trumps against Nigel Farage’s Reform UK in Makerfield, and Labour insiders hope he can repeat the trick nationally.Getty ImagesThis included higher council rates for expensive homes in London and the South East, £40 billion ($75 billion) of borrowing to build social housing and income tax cuts for lower earners.In a post-election speech to supporters, Burnham sketched out his other priorities: better vocational education and jobs for young people, lower energy bills and rail fares and “an end to trickle-down economics, which didn’t trickle down very much at all to places like this”.Critics say these policies are vague and fail to grapple with tough issues, such as where the money will come from to pay for these pledges. They argue that running a country of 70 million is greatly different from overseeing a city region of 3 million.Nonetheless, Burnham now has the momentum that could propel him into 10 Downing Street.“Andy Burnham is probably one of the most popular politicians in the country,” Bale said. “Although, to be honest, that is not saying much.”From our partners