Source: The Conversation – UK
Three months ago, Andy Burnham’s desk was filled with the business of running Greater Manchester. Buses. Housing. Policing. This mayoral region in the north of England is home to 3 million people and Burnham, a former minister in the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, has been its mayor for nearly a decade.
But after a whirlwind ten weeks, Burnham is due to travel to Buckingham Palace on July 20 to meet King Charles, who will appoint him as Britain’s next prime minister.
At the heart of Burnham’s plans for power lies Manchesterism, a political philosophy that centres on giving cities and towns outside London more political control. It’s about devolution, rooted in a sense of place, and culture. Burnham has also described it as “business-friendly socialism”.
In this episode of The Conversation Weekly podcast, we explore how running Greater Manchester shaped Andy Burnham’s politics with researchers Kirsty Fairclough and Philip Brown. They assess what Burnham achieved as mayor and discuss whether a philosophy designed around one city can work on a national level for the UK.
Brown, who interviewed Burnham for The Conversation in 2017, says that England is one of the most centralised countries in the world. “Almost everything like tax, housing, transport, health, they’re all controlled from the centre, from Westminster,” says Brown, a professor of housing and communities at the University of Huddersfield.
In the aftermath of the Brexit referendum, Burnham pointed to hyper-centralisation as a root cause of England’s problems. Nearly a decade on, Brown says Burnham’s views on devolution have “hardened into a fully formed political philosophy for him”.
This episode is part of a series exploring how the northern English city of Manchester has played a critical role in the development of Andy Burnham’s political and social outlook. The series considers what has been dubbed Manchesterism might mean for the future of the UK.
Fairclough, a professor of screen studies at Manchester Metropolitan University and expert on Manchester’s culture, thinks that as mayor of Greater Manchester, Burnham understood that culture was an essential part of the city and its identity. “People don’t simply vote based on economic indicators, they want to feel part of and proud of the place that they call home,” she says.
If Burnham does carry that philosophy on into national politics, she says “then I think Manchesterism becomes less about Manchester itself and about recognising that culture is fundamental infrastructure. It’s not the icing on the cake once everything else has been paid for.”
Listen to Fairclough and Brown on The Conversation Weekly podcast.
This episode of The Conversation Weekly was written and produced by Gemma Ware and Mend Mariwany. Mixing by Michelle Macklem and theme music by Neeta Sarl.
Newsclips in this episode from Sky News, BBC News, Guardian News and Channel 4 News.
Listen to The Conversation Weekly via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our RSS feed or find out how else to listen here. A transcript of this episode is available via the Apple Podcasts or Spotify apps.
Kirsty Fairclough is a member of the Greater Manchester Music Commission, set up by Andy Burnham. Philip Brown does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Original source: https://analysis1.mil-osi.com/2026/07/16/manchester-the-city-powering-andy-burnham-the-uks-incoming-prime-minister/