About this episode

This episode explores how Andy Burnham's experience as mayor of Greater Manchester has influenced his political philosophy and plans as the UK's new prime minister.

Three months ago, Andy Burnham’s desk was filled with the business of running Greater Manchester. Buses. Housing. Policing. This mayoral region in the north of England is home to 3 million people and Burnham, a former minister in the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, has been its mayor for nearly a decade. But after a whirlwind ten weeks, Burnham travelled to Buckingham Palace on July 20 to meet King Charles, who appointed him as Britain’s new prime minister. At the heart of Burnham’s plans for power lies Manchesterism, a political philosophy that centres on giving cities and towns outside London more political control. In this episode, we explore how running Greater Manchester shaped Andy Burnham’s politics with researchers Kirsty Fairclough from Manchester Metropolitan University and Philip Brown from the University of Huddersfield. They assess what Burnham achieved as mayor and discuss whether a philosophy designed around one city can work on a national level for the UK. This episode was written and produced by Gemma Ware and Mend Mariwany. Mixing by Michelle Macklem and theme music by Neeta Sarl. Read the f ull credits for this episode and sign up here for a…

People in this episode

Hosts: Gemma Ware, Mend Mariwany

Guests: Kirsty Fairclough, Philip Brown

Topics covered

• politics
• devolution
• local governance
• Manchesterism
• Andy Burnham
• UK leadership

Keywords

• Andy Burnham
• Greater Manchester
• political philosophy
• devolution
• local governance
• UK prime minister
• Manchesterism

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Greater Manchester

Places: UK, London, Buckingham Palace

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