Andy Burnham

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Andy Burnham  link Powerbase Sourcewatch Website (Politician)
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
Party	Labour Co-op
Establishment-backed aspirant becomes Prime Minister

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, one month after being elected to Parliament at the 2026 Makerfield by-election.

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.

Background

Andy Burnham was born in Liverpool in 1970, 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.

Joining the Labour Party

Burnham joined the Labour Party aged 14 in 1984.

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.

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.

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. 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.

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. 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."

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.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.

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.

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.

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.

Personal life

Andy Burnham married Marie-France van Heel, who is Dutch, in 2000, 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.