A cab driver, who gave his name as Steve, pushed aside his many grievances, local and national, to echo this. “I look at Andy and think can he be PM,” Steve said. “When I look at what he’s done in Greater Manchester I think he could.”
There’s not an analyst in the land who thinks another Labour politician could stop Reform winning Makerfield — but here in Burnham’s north-western fiefdom, his own team describes him as having a “fighting chance.”
The next Boris Johnson?
One of Burnham’s most important backers in parliament is Louise Haigh. The prominent Labour MP gained influence among colleagues by reviving the party’s soft-left Tribune faction, after she was forced to resign as transport secretary over a historic misdemeanor.
“The thing about Andy that should be inherent in all politicians, but is actually vanishingly rare, is he actually really enjoys being around the public,” she told POLITICO over a cup of tea in a cafe in Ashton-in-Makerfield. Haigh was wearing jeans, jumper and white trainers — the informal and unofficial uniform that characterizes Burnham’s by-election campaign.
Haigh reckons the Westminster woodenness that could be observed in Burnham’s two previous bids at becoming Labour leader — in 2010 and 2015 — has been “completely drilled out of him” by his three terms in the metro mayor position he left parliament for in 2017.
“I think this time away for him has just been really instructive, and that ability to connect and feel where the public are I would say is quite akin to Boris Johnson’s abilities, to understand where the public are and respond accordingly,” said Haigh, who alongside fellow MP Anneliese Midgley, is overseeing the by-election campaign. “And that has, I’m afraid, been lacking over the past few years in the Labour leadership.”