Inside Burnham’s roundabout route to No 10, according to those who know him best

For Sir Keir Starmer, the honeymoon was over as soon as he set foot in Downing Street back in July 2024. Most prime ministers enjoy a few weeks’ grace period after taking office. But within weeks of securing a landslide victory, Sir Keir was on the back foot. His chancellor, Rachel Reeves, admitted to the public that the government had been left a £22bn black hole , including scrapping winter fuel payments for pensioners not on benefits. The backlash was fierce - for many it was a point from which the government never recovered. Days later, Sir Keir was forced to cancel his holiday as violent riots broke out across the country in response to the brutal murders of three girls in Southport. Scandal over gifts from donor Lord Alli then sank the new prime minister’s opinion ratings into the doldrums - with just 36 per cent of Britons believing he was doing a good job at the end of August. His government was going nowhere fast. As the new administration flailed, Labour’s most popular politician was not among its 411 MPs elected in 2024. open image in gallery Keir Starmer with Andy Burnham in 2022 (PA) Andy Burnham had been running Greater Manchester since 2017 and had developed his “King of the North” image during the pandemic as an outspoken critic of an economic model firmly rooted in London and the South East. May 2024 had seen Mr Burnham re-elected for a third term with 63 per cent of the vote, winning in every borough of the city region. But little more than a year later, he appeared to have set his sights on a different job. ‘An idea whose time has come’ After a rocky first year characterised by U-turns, ministers arrived in Liverpool for Labour’s September 2025 conference in what felt like crisis. Nigel Farage’s Reform UK was leading in the polls and deputy prime minister Angela Rayner had just resigned over her tax affairs. Only 18 per cent of Britons believed Sir Keir was doing a good job, and Mr Burnham came to the conference in the city of his birth as the centre of attention. But Mr Burnham said he was doing nothing more than starting a conversation about the party’s direction. “He always wants the party to do well, and we weren't doing well”, Liverpool City Region mayor and Mr Burnham’s close friend Steve Rotheram told The Independent this week.