Andy Burnham is the new leader of the Labour party after the results of the party’s uncontested leadership election were announced on Friday (17 July) afternoon. In a speech to the party faithful at Congress House in London, Burnham said “I am ready, ready to lead” and claimed that his election as Labour leader was “the most significant change moment in our politics for 40 years”.
“It will take us to a country where life is more affordable and all people and places are lifted,” he said, saying he would set a clear politician direction.
Crediting the people of Makerfield and other “left behind” communities for his rise to power, Burnham said his leadership would mark “the return of Labour they once knew” and that “we will be that version of Labour again.” After weeks of speculation about the shape of his government Burnham said that “I have not made any decisions yet about who will be in that top team but I will soon” and promised that a range of prepared measures would be confidently announced to the public once he is in No 10.
The speech was broadcast to the nation as Burnham prepares to become prime minister on Monday, but many of his remarks were directed squarely at Labour members and MPs.
As well as thanking party grandees for their roles in his political journey – Neil Kinnock, David Blunkett and Margaret Beckett – and praising some of Keir Starmer’s record, Burnham began a list of his priorities for leadership with a call to end factionalism in Labour. He said he would “work relentlessly to build a culture of one Labour team” and end an “insidious briefing culture” after complaints about the management style of the previous leadership.
He then promised party faithful that his leadership would be “boldly, confidently, authentically us”, after years in which many in the party felt the leadership had drifted from the party’s core values in pursuit of a misguided political strategy that attempted to chase right-leaning voters.
While there have been many questions about what Burnham will actually do as PM, he said that his direction would be clear from the start: “As your leader I will set a direction that is distinctively Labour. We won’t try to out-Green the Greens or out-Reform Reform, or doing what we’ve done in the past of wearing too many Tory clothes.”
While attempts to “out-Reform Reform” have been preoccupations of the left of the party, Burnham also addressed some of the concerns about his leadership from the party’s right. Conscious of the critique that his strong northern identity could alienate voters in other parts of the country, Burnham said: “I will be a leader for the north, the south, the east and the west. For Scotland, Wales and for Northern Ireland.”
“Yes the north of England has given me so much, everything in fact, and in return I have sought to give it the strongest voice I could. That was my job. But now I do the same for everywhere because I see the same challenges everywhere I look.” As a part of this promise he said he would be “out and about in August” in the south of England as his premiership begins.
And to those who wonder about his economic policy and a potentially negative reaction from businesses to the new government, Burnham said: “I will be a pro-business leader of the Labour party as I was a pro-business mayor of Greater Manchester.”
In a speech that was broadly positive, Burnham did issue one warning to his optimistic supporters: “Let’s be honest everybody, this is a last chance to change and we must take it together, united together.”
It was clear from Burnham’s confident remarks that he believes he possesses qualities and ideas that will mark him out from five predecessors as Prime Minister, none of whom could last a full parliamentary term in office. But it is on Monday, when he enters No 10 Downing Street, that the real test will begin.
[Further reading: After Keir Starmer]
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