Jul 20, 2026 · 46 min · 12 segments
Andy Burnham enters Downing Street promising a 10-year plan and a “circuit-breaker” for UK politics after becoming Britain’s seventh Prime Minister in a decade. Gavan Reilly examines what Burnham’s…
Gavan ReillyHost
Mary ReganGuest
Paul JohnstonGuest
Kevin CunninghamGuest
Because it had all the legions of supporters and all the feel-good choreography of a man who had just been sent back to Downing Street with 400 MPs by the public and not just by one constituency in the north.
Yeah, well, I mean, the thing is he has enormous support from the entirety of his parliamentary party.
If you go back to the local elections earlier this year, the Labour Party did very, very poorly.
I think this is part of the background that isn't necessarily mentioned as often as it might otherwise be.
The Labour Party got around 17% projected national votes in those local elections.
It looked like the Labour Party was losing the left, its kind of leadership of the left, and that's a very dangerous position.
The reason why Andy Burnham is obviously such an obvious choice is not only is he incredibly popular amongst the electorate and amongst Labour members, but also he is very distinctively of the North.
And he has brought in a Northern Chancellor and he has this Downing Street North as well as this possibility.
This kind of Northern aspect is very important because that's where the bulk of the Labour heartland seats are.
And its ability to kind of fend off the Greens and the Liberals is very, very important.
And I think that's why there is this kind of swell of support behind him and the support for what he might potentially do.
How long do you think that can be sustained, though, this idea that they might be the most popular party of the left? But it's because we just haven't heard from Zach Polanski for a little while.
There just hasn't been an electoral test and no one's been talking about the Greens or no one's been talking about Ed Davey.
Eventually, they're going to find their way back into the media ecosystem, aren't they?
Because it had all the legions of supporters and all the feel-good choreography of a man who had just been sent back to Downing Street with 400 MPs by the public and not just by one constituency in the north.
Yeah, well, I mean, the thing is he has enormous support from the entirety of his parliamentary party.
If you go back to the local elections earlier this year, the Labour Party did very, very poorly.
I think this is part of the background that isn't necessarily mentioned as often as it might otherwise be.
The Labour Party got around 17% projected national votes in those local elections.
It looked like the Labour Party was losing the left, its kind of leadership of the left, and that's a very dangerous position.
The reason why Andy Burnham is obviously such an obvious choice is not only is he incredibly popular amongst the electorate and amongst Labour members, but also he is very distinctively of the North.
And he has brought in a Northern Chancellor and he has this Downing Street North as well as this possibility.
This kind of Northern aspect is very important because that's where the bulk of the Labour heartland seats are.
And its ability to kind of fend off the Greens and the Liberals is very, very important.
And I think that's why there is this kind of swell of support behind him and the support for what he might potentially do.
How long do you think that can be sustained, though, this idea that they might be the most popular party of the left? But it's because we just haven't heard from Zach Polanski for a little while.
There just hasn't been an electoral test and no one's been talking about the Greens or no one's been talking about Ed Davey.
Eventually, they're going to find their way back into the media ecosystem, aren't they?
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