ANDY Burnham was elected Labour mayor of Greater Manchester in 2017. Nothing strange in that, you might think. Except that Burnham hails from Liverpool. Being mayor of Manchester when you come from Liverpool and still support Everton is a bit like someone from Edinburgh being Provost of Glasgow and going home every weekend to watch Hibs.
This says a lot for Burnham’s political ambition. I overlapped with him at Westminster in the period when he was front runner to replace Ed Miliband as Labour’s leader. He was the epitome of a sleek, charmless, power-dressed Labour MP, noticeable for never cracking a smile. Ambition was written all over his face and measured, careful, calculating, colourless speeches. This was Andy’s second go at being Labour leader. In 2010, following Gordon Brown’s election defeat, Burnham put himself forward but came fourth. Then in 2015 he lost again, unexpectedly, to Jeremy Corbyn.
READ MORE: Manchester: Murdo Fraser under fire for telling people to come to Scotland despite ban
With two crushing defeats under his belt, Burnham transformed himself into a reborn English devolutionist and captured the Mancunian mayoralty as his personal fiefdom. He was re-elected last month with a whopping 67% of the vote - admittedly on a pathetic 35% turnout. The big question is shouting out loud: does Burnham plan a third go at being Labour leader if Keir Starmer continues to prove hopeless? And is Andy’s spat with Nicola Sturgeon over the FM’s Covid ban on Scots visiting Manchester merely a contrived issue to put him in the English media limelight?
On the conspiratorial side, why has Burnham made a public fuss now when he was noticeably silent after the FM placed a similar travel ban on Bolton, which is also a part of the mayor’s political bailiwick? Burnham has cried foul, arguing Bolton's Covid numbers are below (say) Dundee's. Yet he can’t dismiss the fact that cases in Manchester and Salford are now higher than in Dundee. Certainly, there is an argument that the new Scottish restrictions are cosmetic. Short of photographing car number plates, how can Police Scotland possibly know who has been to Manchester? And Manchester police (says Burnham) have no powers to enforce the ban.
Burnham is a man with a big political chip on his shoulder. From a working-class family, he won a scholarship to Cambridge and by his own account felt deeply uncomfortable among the toffs. Possibly the FM made a mistake not telephoning Burnham before she introduced the travel ban. He takes offense easily. A political pragmatist to his core, the politician Burnham resembles most is Neil Kinnock. The latter was a key supporter in Burnham’s 2015 leadership bid.
READ MORE: Why Andy Burnham is attacking Nicola Sturgeon on Manchester travel ban
What if Labour loses the upcoming Batley and Spen by-election and Starmer comes under pressure to quit? The issue is not Starmer’s obvious vacuity but the fact that Labour has no unique selling point in a world where the Tories have turned big spenders. Of course, Chancellor Sunak and the Tory fiscal conservatives might change all that but probably not before the next election. Which would leave Burnham as Labour leader with just the same problems as Starmer.
Taking pot shots at the Jocks has done Burnham no harm with the English media. Having succeeded in that he has now retreated from his (unlikely) threat of taking legal action against the Scottish government. However, in Burnham’s battle to replace Starmer, there is a big elephant in the room: Labour has never elected a female leader. There will be huge pressure in any forthcoming contest to remedy that. Burnham will face heavy competition from the likes of Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves.
Meanwhile, back in the real world, there is no doubt that the Covid situation in Manchester is worsening. At Burnham’s press conference today, it was revealed that there a "massive number of cases" among 16-29-year-olds. Greater Manchester is also 8 points behind the national average in vaccination coverage and pressure on local hospitals is rising. All of which suggests the FM has a point.
The latest news is Burnham and the FM are to meet face to face. He says his main beef is what "exit route" from the travel ban is available to Manchester. Most likely, that will depend on the virus. But a meeting with the FM relayed on the evening TV news will make Andy happy. Who says he’s not running again?
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