Our friends in the north

Will Andy Burnham, as Prime Minister, be able to rebalance the country as he says he intends to?

Speaking today at Manchester People's History Museum, Burnham set out his visionary programme not just of change but of hope and received a rapturous response from his audience of regional mayors and politicians in doing so. At last, after two wasted years, a clear path has been laid out for the Labour government to follow. The sense of relief and excitement in the room was palpable. It's pointless asking now why this couldn't have been done in July 2024; the man elected then and responsible for the drift since has stood down and his successor in waiting has set out his stall in both philosophical and practical terms. Cometh the hour, cometh the man. All he needs is the opportunity to get cracking on delivery.

The man dubbed 'the King of the North' certainly has impeccable northern roots and ten years' experience successfully running a major north of England city region as Mayor of Greater Manchester. But will that be sufficient to enable him finally to break the stranglehold of London and the South-East on national affairs, as he clearly and explicitly wishes to do, by setting up his 'Number 10 of the North' unit in Manchester? 

Born in Aintree in 1970, brought up in Culcheth near Liverpool, schooled in Newton-le-WiIlow and representing Leigh as its MP from 2001-17, his northern credentials are undoubted, but should this really matter when it comes to occupying the highest political office in the land? I think it does. A lived experience of life outside the capital city and Home Counties is a prerequisite for really understanding, and then redressing, the stark regional imbalances of this country, which Burnham in his speech rightly called the most centralised in Europe. 

Northern grit and determination may be a stereotype but not necessarily an unuseful one in this context. I think back to the last great northern Labour Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, and his inspiring message in the 1960s about forging a new Britain in "the white heat of technology". Born in Huddersfield, Wilson studied at Oxford where he became a don. His signature pipe and Gannex raincoat were, in reality, props to enhance his northern roots - in private he preferred smoking cigars but thought that too Churchillian a public image, and Gannex rainwear was a Yorkshire brand manufactured in Elland, Calderdale. By appointing Blackburn-born (though also Oxford educated) Barbara Castle his first Secretary of State, and Secretary of State for Employment, he set the tone of a no-nonsense northern-led working class Labour administration which, while arguably performative, underscored the dynamism of his two governments of 1964-70 and 1974-76.

For his part, Burnham (a Cambridge graduate) gained extensive experience of Westminster and Whitehall as a minister at the Home Office, in Health (twice), the Treasury, and Culture, Media & Sport between 2005-10. Therefore, when he speaks of his frustration at the complexity, stasis and unconnectedness of government and the civil service he knows whereof he speaks. If today's speech was anything to go by, he also has the scars to prove it. This explains his obvious impatience for change, though whether the Mandarins will be up for helping him achieve it is another matter.

I somehow get the feeling, though, that if anyone can persuade them, Burnham's the man.

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