How Andy Burnham’s school teacher inspired him to believe in himself

The former neighbor, who asked not to be named, said: “I think Andy would have been 16 or 17 when we moved here, so he was almost at university.

“The three children often played football in the garden and their balls came into our garden, so we saw and heard them a lot.”

Her husband recalled what a good communicator Burnham was, even in her teenage years, and that she “remembered people.”

“We met him right before he went to college and he was very good then, so he picked up those skills pretty early,” he said.

Danni, who lives close to Common Lane, said her son went to university with Burnham’s nephew and she occasionally spotted the Labor man in the local Sainsbury’s store.

He said it was “really exciting” that someone who grew up in the village could become the country’s next prime minister.

“He seems like a very down-to-earth guy and I think he’ll get the north involved a little bit more, which is always nice because it’s always pretty south-centric in Parliament, isn’t it?”

A few doors down from Burnham’s childhood home was Lindsay, who had only recently moved to the area but remembered her from when Leigh was an MP; before leaving Westminster to run for mayor of Greater Manchester.

“I think it’s a good thing for the North, I hope it does really well,” he said.

“He has always worked hard at what he does and deserves to be where he is.

“You’d always see him walking down Bradshawgate in Leigh, waiting for you to go and approach him.”