Jun 20, 2026 · 55 min · 16 segments
The ascent of the new MP for Makerfield looks unstoppable this weekend. With the parties of the right divided, and the limitations of the 2024 Labour manifesto putting restrictions on Andy Burnham's…
Ian MartinPanelist
Miranda GreenPanelist
Tim MontgomeriePanelist
Shall I kick off with a question to you, Miranda, really on just the scale of Burnham's victory.
We said in our episode earlier in the week, I think we all thought that he was going to storm it, but it was a really convincing victory.
And I do think that makes a difference in politics, don't you? Because even before the May elections, we were discussing that even theoretically, when people say such and such an event is priced in, an electoral event, the reality when it hits a political party often proves to be something else and changes the mood.
And I think the scale of Burnham's victory, a majority of 9,000-odd, gaining over 50% of the vote, even in those circumstances where the constituency seemed designed to be a reform win, has given the whole Burnham bandwagon... huge velocity as well as momentum, I think.
And it's a sort of undeniable argument, I think, as well, because him standing in that constituency needed to prove... several things that he could see off reform and also that he could unite the kind of centre-left anti-reform vote, both of which he's managed to do convincingly.
You remember before Makerfields, there was a talk of the, you know, can he find any Labour seat at all where he could possibly win? And people talked about him needing to find a safest seat.
And he won by a margin that, you know, we had I think six or seven opinion polls during the campaign.
But even on the night, I did news night on Thursday night and got in touch with HQ and said, what are we doing? And they were still thinking it was tight.
Shall I kick off with a question to you, Miranda, really on just the scale of Burnham's victory.
We said in our episode earlier in the week, I think we all thought that he was going to storm it, but it was a really convincing victory.
And I do think that makes a difference in politics, don't you? Because even before the May elections, we were discussing that even theoretically, when people say such and such an event is priced in, an electoral event, the reality when it hits a political party often proves to be something else and changes the mood.
And I think the scale of Burnham's victory, a majority of 9,000-odd, gaining over 50% of the vote, even in those circumstances where the constituency seemed designed to be a reform win, has given the whole Burnham bandwagon... huge velocity as well as momentum, I think.
And it's a sort of undeniable argument, I think, as well, because him standing in that constituency needed to prove... several things that he could see off reform and also that he could unite the kind of centre-left anti-reform vote, both of which he's managed to do convincingly.
You remember before Makerfields, there was a talk of the, you know, can he find any Labour seat at all where he could possibly win? And people talked about him needing to find a safest seat.
And he won by a margin that, you know, we had I think six or seven opinion polls during the campaign.
But even on the night, I did news night on Thursday night and got in touch with HQ and said, what are we doing? And they were still thinking it was tight.
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