He dad-danced to New Order’s “True Faith” on becoming Labour leader, and used a TikTok blind ranking of five bands which included … four from Manchester.
And, of course, his official Spotify playlist during the Makerfield by-election was flooded with songs by Mancunian artists.
5) ‘Manchester of India.’
Improving diplomatic ties cuts both ways as world leaders try to get in Burnham’s good books by referencing his favorite city.
During a call with Indian PM Narendra Modi, Burnham praised the contributions of Indian communities to the U.K., while Modi noted the links between the two leaders’ home cities of Manchester and Ahmedabad, in Gujarat, respectively. The Indian leader called it the “Manchester of India.”
No. 10 put it in their readout of the call — obvs.
6) Chatting Manchester slang
Burnham’s TikTok game includes educating the entire U.K. on the finer points of Greater Manchester dialect.
In a weekend post promoting his devolution agenda, the prime minister declared he couldn’t be convinced a bread roll is called anything but a “barm” — the north-west slang for a bap.
Burnham was trying to make the point that what works in one place doesn’t succeed in another — with the help of the Mancunian metaphor.