‘What a fitting venue to be sat in – The People’s History Museum’. So began the introduction to Andy Burnham’s great descent from Mount Sinai to declare his programme for government. It was delivered by Bev Craig, Labour’s candidate to replace him as Manchester mayor. She delivered it in a tone and nasal burr which suggested she was announcing that a rail replacement bus service had been delayed.
His promise of ‘a new era of possibility’ was a lot of style – mingled with some inevitable Burnhamite sentimentalism: ‘hope in every heart and good growth in every postcode.’ It made me long for a gun in every hand and a cyanide capsule in every drawer
However, she was right – it was a fitting venue! Normally anything with ‘The People’s’ before it is guaranteed to be something in which ordinary people have had absolutely no input. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the People’s Liberation Army, the People’s Princess. You get the picture. Hilariously though, the People’s History Museum in Manchester is a perfect embodiment of Burnhamism; it has hit the headlines twice in recent years. Once when it U-turned on EU branding and another time when it U-turned on transgenderism. Pretty much the perfect place for Burnham then.
