Could ‘king in the north’ become Britain’s new prime minister? | Andy Burnham

“We know no king but the King in the North,” says young Lady Lyanna Mormont in HBO’s popular series Game of Thrones. In the early hours of Friday morning, voters in a nondescript conference hall in the north of England appeared to accept the proposal.

Nearly 70,000 voters in the post-industrial north-west of England may have changed the face of British politics this week after electing charismatic Labor politician Andy Burnham to represent them in London.

His ambitions don’t end there. In a development that would have been improbable just a few months ago, it would now be a surprise if Burnham did not represent the UK on the world stage as its next prime minister (her sixth in 10 years).

And that change may come soon.

That’s what was at stake in the Makerfield by-election; It gave Burnham a path back to Westminster and the chance to challenge Keir Starmer to become prime minister.

Burnham is a rare breed in British politics. He had been an MP before and few who knew him at the time could have foreseen his transformation. But he reinvented himself nine years ago when he became mayor of Manchester.

In this role he forged a second political career, enjoying the nickname “king of the north” for his forceful defense of a region that had long ceased to be the UK’s economic engine.

It was this personal popularity that was decisive in the Makerfield competition.

Pundits thought it would be close: it was billed as a two-horse race between Burnham’s progressive Labor Party and right-wing Reform UK, whose popularity has soared since the 2024 general election.

But in the early hours of Friday morning it became clear that Burnham had scored a resounding victory; He received 55% of the vote to Reform’s 35%, nearly doubling his predecessor’s majority.

It was a remarkable result and in her victory speech Burnham did little to hide the fact that her eyes were now firmly on sacking Keir Starmer.

“This is one last chance to change,” he said. “That’s what people told me directly on the hundreds of doorsteps I’ve stood on. We have to hear it, we have to act on it, and we have to do it right. There will be no second chances.”

Throughout her fluid, fast-paced and social media-friendly campaign, Burnham tapped into the deep sense of dissatisfaction felt by many people in Britain.

Speaking directly into a handheld camera in daily video clips from the campaign trail, he repeatedly said that people from places such as the town of Ashton-in-Makerfield and surrounding former coal-mining villages felt neglected, forgotten, left behind.

“That’s going to change tonight,” he said Friday. “This result changes that. This result will deliver a country that works fairly for everyone, everywhere. People here voted for change. They voted for more power for the North and everywhere Westminster has forgotten.”

Dressed in a dark suit and black T-shirt, the 56-year-old wore a badge bearing the image of a worker bee, long a symbol of Manchester and the north’s industrial heritage: an emblem of where he came from and what he wanted to do now.

Away from Westminster, Burnham developed a reputation as a strong communicator, an easygoing person. He has also managed to position himself as a Westminster outsider, despite his background.

A career politician who has held key posts at the top of the British government is now making his third bid to become leader of his party, after more than a year of political maneuvering.

First elected in 2001, he soon became a junior minister in Tony Blair’s New Labor government, before being promoted to cabinet under the next prime minister, Gordon Brown, first as culture secretary and then with responsibility for the health department.

When Labor lost the general election in 2010, he stood as leader of the party but came in fourth place. He tried again in 2015 but lost to experienced left winger Jeremy Corbyn.

Ambition thwarted and a potentially long period in opposition looming on the horizon, Burnham left Westminster in 2016 to run as a Labor candidate to become mayor of Manchester, saying in a blunt farewell speech that “voters have a problem with out-of-touch elites who don’t seem to care”.

His closest friend in politics, Steve Rotheram, mayor of the Liverpool city region, said the role he took on in 2017 shaped the politician he became. “I’ve known him for 18 years. I’ve seen how he started to shape politics after he left Westminster,” he said. “Before that, politics was starting to shape it.”

In the nine years since Burnham left London, her political and personal style and attitudes have changed. Gone are the sharp suits and conservative ties. Now he wears t-shirts and bomber jackets.

His willingness to challenge critics on social media and send a direct message to voters in the style of his New York City mayoral counterpart, Zohran Mamdani, has pleased his supporters.

The difference between him and Starmer, a judicial technocrat who at times seems like he belongs to another political era, could not be starker.

Privately described as charming and funny by friends, the prime minister’s public speech is often harsh and extremely cautious; This contributes to record low favorability rates in opinion polls.

But while shooting from the hip is lauded and goes with relative impunity in a regional mayor, critics warn Burnham’s people-pleasing impulses could be a liability in the highest office.

In recent weeks the former mayor has been forced to backtrack on previous suggestions that Britain should be less exposed to a backlash from bond traders and that he would like to see Britain rejoin the EU in good health.

Both far-right Reform England and right-wing Conservatives are likely to portray Burnham as a leftist who will raise taxes and waste taxpayers’ money.

“People don’t want strict socialism under Burnham,” one Reform MP said on Friday. However, Burnham described himself as a democratic socialist and, despite being on the left wing of his party, gained a reputation for pragmatism during his time as mayor of Manchester.

He described his economic model as “business-friendly socialism” or “Manchesterism”, based on the model he adopted in the northern city during his nine-year term in office.

In a video launching his campaign to return to Westminster, he said it would mean “the end of neoliberalism” and a national rollout of what he had achieved in the city: greater public control of key assets such as transport and water, a closer partnership between state and business to spread wealth returns, and a massive expansion of devolution.

Burnham’s offer for the top job isn’t guaranteed. Starmer will now need the support of 80 Labor MPs to fire the starting gun in the leadership battle he said he will contest on Friday.

Burnham’s allies hope the prime minister will change his mind and opt for a more honorable exit.

If so, the annual gathering of Labor loyalists in Burnham’s native Liverpool in October could be more of a coronation than a conference.