The big shots and the thinkers
Burnham is no stranger to the Cabinet either. Two of his biggest supporters around Starmer’s top table are Miliband, the energy secretary, and Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander is “pally” with Burnham, too, as the friend quoted above put it. And Deputy Labour Leader Lucy Powell is another prominent champion in parliament. They all might hope to prosper if the mayor does make it to Downing Street.
More immediately, Powell is taking on the key by-election job of trying to rally members and volunteers on the campaign. She played a similar role in the Gorton and Denton by-election, which Labour lost to the Greens after Burnham’s candidacy was blocked. Powell and Nandy, whose Wigan constituency neighbors Makerfield, were out campaigning for Burnham even before he was officially selected as the candidate.
Political commentator and activist Neal Lawson, the co-founder of the Labour-linked Compass pressure group, is also seen by those around Burnham as significant. Luke Hurst, from the Burnham-supporting Mainstream organization, and Matthew Lawrence, who has articulated a case for a spread of the “Manchesterism” model of governance that Burnham has furthered during his time as mayor are also spoken of as key players, as is Zoë Billingham, the director of the IPPR North think tank.
Miatta Fahnbulleh, a former think-tanker, was the first minster to resign from Starmer’s government in the wake of the disastrous local election results. She is now advising Burnham on policy, according to two of the Greater Manchester mayor’s allies.
If everything goes Burnham’s way and he does become prime minister, he is already determined not to repeat a perceived mistake of his predecessor. As POLITICO reported Tuesday, his team has been working on a policy plan for his first 100 days in government.
If Burnham wants to avoid being turfed out of office at the same pace as Starmer, expect the team above to be relied on for policy clout — and fast.
Dan Bloom contributed reporting.