Andy Burnham
 Andy Burnham       ( politician) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | Andrew Murray Burnham 7 January 1970 Aintree, Merseyside, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | Fitzwilliam College (Cambridge) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Religion | Roman Catholicism | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Children | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse |  Marie-France van Heel | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Member of | Labour Friends of Israel, Progress | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Party | Labour Co-op | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Subpage | •Andy Burnham/Premiership | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Establishment-backed aspirant becomes Prime Minister
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See Andy Burnham/Premiership for actions during his time in office
Andrew Murray Burnham is a British Labour Party politician who became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on 20 July 2026,[1] one month after being elected to Parliament at the 2026 Makerfield by-election.[2]
On 21 June 2026, Asa Winstanley posted on X:
This is what state capture looks like:
- Labour Friends of Israel: Congratulations to @AndyBurnhamGM on his victory in the Makerfield by-election.
- We look forward to working with you as you return to the Commons and wish you well as the new Labour MP for Makerfield.[3]
Contents
Background
Andy Burnham was born in Liverpool in 1970,[4] the son of a telephone engineer father and a receptionist mother.
Education
He attended St Lewis' Primary School and St Aelred's Roman Catholic High School in Newton-le-Willows and the University of Cambridge, where he read for an English degree at Fitzwilliam College.[5]
Joining the Labour Party
Burnham joined the Labour Party aged 14 in 1984.[6]
Burnham was a researcher to Tessa Jowell from 1994 until the 1997 election, and joined the Transport and General Workers' Union in 1995. After the 1997 election, he was briefly a Parliamentary Officer for the NHS Confederation from August to December 1997, before taking up the post as an administrator with the Football Task Force for a year.[7]
In 1998, he became a Special Adviser to the then Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Chris Smith, a position he remained in until his election to Parliament in 2001.
Member of Parliament
After the retirement of Lawrence Cunliffe, Burnham applied to be candidate for the safe Labour seat of Leigh. At the 2001 election, he moved into parliament.[8]
In Government
He became a member of the Health Select Committee from 2001 until 2003, when he was appointed the Parliamentary Private Secretary to Home Secretary David Blunkett. Following Blunkett's first resignation in 2004, he went on to become the PPS to Education Secretary Ruth Kelly. He was promoted to the Government after the 2005 election as a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, with responsibility for implementing the Identity Cards Act 2006.
In the government reshuffle of 5 May 2006, Burnham was promoted from the Home Office to a Minister of State at the Department of Health.
In Cabinet
In Gordon Brown's first Cabinet, announced on 28 June 2007, Burnham was appointed as the new Chief Secretary to the Treasury, a position he held until 2008.
In a re-shuffle in January 2008, Burnham was promoted to the position of Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, replacing James Purnell.[9] In June 2008, he had to apologise to the director of pressure group Liberty, Shami Chakrabarti, after she threatened to sue him for libel for smearing her reputation.[10]
In late 2008, Burnham announced Government plans to crack down on the Internet, tightening up controls in order to "even up" what he claimed was an imbalance with TV regulations.[11][12][13] This was followed by a speech to the UK music industry's lobbying group, UK Music, in which he announced a "a time that calls for partnership between Government and the music business as a whole: one with rewards for both of us; one with rewards for society as a whole. (...) My job – Government’s job – is to preserve the value in the system."[14]
He was promoted again to become Secretary of State for Health in June 2009. He held the post until the then Labour Government resigned after the 2010 general election.
In Opposition
Burnham became Shadow Secretary of State for Health after May 2010 and following the resignation of Gordon Brown's government.
Following Brown's further resignation as Leader of the Labour Party and as Prime Minister, Burnham declared his intention to stand in the subsequent leadership contest.[15][16]The leadership contest was eventually won by Ed Miliband. Burnham finished fourth with less than 9% of the total vote.
In October 2010, Burnham was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Education and election co-ordinator for the Labour Party. One day short of a year later, he was appointed again to his former role of Shadow Secretary of State for Health.
Andy Burnham was one of four contenders in the 2015 Labour leadership election alongside Yvette Cooper, Jeremy Corbyn and Liz Kendall.[17]
Wikipedia editing
In July 2013 The Daily Telegraph stated that Burnham's staff had edited his Wikipedia page to remove critical material. Burnham's office claimed that they had removed false statements that had been drawn to their attention.[18]
Mayor of Greater Manchester
As Mayor of Greater Manchester (2017 to 2026), Burnham covered-up the Pakistani 'grooming' and rape gangs by – instead of commissioning a full public inquiry – ordering a "report" with a very different legal status, which could be ignored if deemed politically expedient.[19][20]
As mayor, he led the response to the 2017 Manchester bombing - an event where the official narrative is highly dubious. He also met with "survivors" of the staged 2013Boston Marathon bombing.[21]
Personal life
Andy Burnham married Marie-France van Heel, who is Dutch, in 2000,[22] having been in a relationship for 11 years beforehand since university. The couple have a son and two daughters, and Burnham is a Roman Catholic.[23]
A Quote by Andy Burnham
| Page | Quote | Date | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| "National security" | “What possible justification can there be, 43 years on, for information about it [the trial of the Shrewsbury 24], to be withheld on national security grounds? The failure to disclose has less to do with national security and much more to do with the potential for political embarrassment.” | 2015 | BBC |
Appointments by Andy Burnham
Event Participated in
| Event | Start | End | Location(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andy Burnham/Premiership | 20 July 2026 |
References
- ↑ "Who's in Andy Burnham's cabinet?"
- ↑ "Burnham's emphatic win leaves Starmer and Labour MPs with big decision on leadership"
- ↑ "This is what state capture looks like"
- ↑ http://andy4leader.com/about
- ↑ {http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/www.dh.gov.uk/en/Aboutus/MinistersandDepartmentLeaders/Ministers/Ministersbiography/DH_100325
- ↑ http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Tougher+than+he+appears%3B+Andy+Burnham+tells+Ian+Hernon+that+politics...-a0236089358
- ↑ http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/jan/26/uk.media%7Cpublisher=Guardian News & Media|accessdate=12 October 2008
- ↑ http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200102/cmhansrd/vo010704/debtext/10704-21.htm#10704-21_spnew1
- ↑ http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/peter_riddell/article3248199.ece
- ↑ http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/jun/23/daviddavis.terrorism
- ↑ http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/sep/26/digitalmedia.internet
- ↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7644849.stm
- ↑ http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jun/11/digitalmedia.media
- ↑ Andy Burnham and Charlie McCreevy speak at UK Music's first creators' conference
- ↑ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/labour/7743790/Andy-Burnham-and-Diane-Abbott-join-Labour-leadership-race.html
- ↑ Burnham seeks to stand out from leadership crowd BBC News
- ↑ "Devolution, UKIP and immigration: What happened when the Labour leadership hustings came to Cardiff"
- ↑ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/10193346/Shadow-Health-Secretary-Andy-Burnhams-staff-deleted-negative-Wikipedia-references.html
- ↑ https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/will-the-rape-gang-scandal-be-starmers-nemesis/
- ↑ https://rumble.com/v6cde97-288-raja-miah-pakistani-grooming-gangs-in-england.html?e9s=src_v1_ucp at around 1h20min
- ↑ https://www.boston.com/sports/boston-marathon/2023/04/14/boston-marathon-dave-fortier-newburyport-one-world-strong/
- ↑ http://www.theguardian.com/media/2008/jan/28/media.politicsandthearts%7Caccessdate=29 September 2014
- ↑ http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/keep-the-faith-andy-burnham-tells-nhs-and-church-8547060.html
