Burnham seeks to banish ghosts of Starmerism at Labour conference

Andy Burnham will take to the main stage at this year's Labour party conference to set out his direction as prime minister. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing The Guardian.

Andy Burnham was not even in the audience for the prime minister's speech at the Labour party conference this time last year. As Keir Starmer made the case for continuity to his restive party, Burnham was spotted slipping out over the bridge towards Liverpool's Albert Dock. The Manchester mayor had been vying for the spotlight throughout the party's annual gathering, presenting the argument for change. But even he could not have envisaged the schism that would take place in the ensuing 12 months and would put him on the main stage as prime minister at this year's conference, beginning in Merseyside on Sunday.

At the time, Starmer retained a tentative grip on the party, while Burnham was mocked for leaving Liverpool with his tail between his legs, awkward and abashed, especially over his controversial comments about being too "in hock" to the bond markets. But below the surface, disquiet was starting to take shape. Several cabinet ministers confided privately in Liverpool last year that they believed Burnham would ultimately be seen as the party's Cassandra: comically ham-fisted, but nonetheless telling hard truths about the party's problems.

After he succeeded Starmer in the top job in July, Burnham has made "Hope Again" his conference slogan, with No 10 strategists pitching this year's event as a definitive break with the past.

Burnham has been promising to defy the political and economic consensus of the last 40 years since he was elected as MP for Makerfield, in a byelection that proved to be the final domino for Starmer's faltering leadership, and will use this conference to set out how he aims to do this.

It will also attempt to break old habits in the Labour party's way of doing business which has often been hindered by pessimism, fear and factionalism. Cynics in the party will wonder if this effort can withstand current economic pressures, given soaring borrowing costs.

Hayden Munro, Burnham's new political director, has told cabinet ministers and special advisers they must defy such cynics, and every message they send must be about how there is renewed faith in Britain. Munro, a former strategist for Jacinda Ardern, who colleagues say is the "in-house hype man", told them the theme of conference would be how help was coming for ordinary working people.

Burnham's government would put care of people as the first consideration, he told them, restoring "the right values" – a nod to the widespread fears in Labour about the rise of overt racism across the political sphere.

Ministers have been tasked with announcing policies that deliver immediate breathing room for families, but also long-term plans and investment to make everyday life easier and more affordable, with a particular focus on public control of essential services. Burnham will emphasise again that he intends to deliver the biggest change to Britain in 40 years.

But the other theme of the conference will be courage, that this will finally be a government which will fix problems long been thought to be intractable, rough sleeping, social care, and youth inactivity.

"'It's too hard' will no longer be used as a justification for not acting. We will get stuff done," Munro wrote in his note to advisers.

Addressing Labour conference in Liverpool is a kind of homecoming for Burnham, even though he is most closely associated with Manchester. He was born in its suburbs, it is where he had his formative political awakening on the Hillsborough injustice, and the area where he returned just a fortnight ago in tragic circumstances, after his father's death from Alzheimer's.

Burnham writes all of his own speeches and has spent the last few weeks in between meetings, and travelling by train between London and Manchester, working through his ideas. He told reporters at the United Nations general assembly in New York this week that his conference speech would be his own political philosophy spelt out in primary colours.

"I keep saying, 'Nobody won't know what I'm trying to do.' People will know, you can make your judgment on whether it's right or wrong. But people are going to know the direction I want to take this country in."

This approach marks a definitive break with Starmerism. "If we achieve one thing at this conference, it will be that no one will ever say about Andy Burnham what they said about Keir Starmer," one Labour strategist said. "You can never say 'we don't know what he stands for'."

Burnham is the beneficiary of a gentler political landscape than Starmer was a year ago, when Reform and the rapid rise of far-right demonstrations had dominated the summer. Labour were sinking in the polls even before the scandal-fuelled resignations of Angela Rayner and Peter Mandelson just weeks before the event.

Going into conference now, Labour is in the lead with all pollsters for the first time since October 2024, partly thanks to Burnham's own bounce, but also as a result of declining trust in Reform after a series of scandals. There is also very little appetite for rebellion among the Labour party.