Summary
Overview
In this episode of The Restless Politics series, Steve Rotherham, Metro Mayor of Liverpool, discusses Andy Burnham's political career journey from his early days after Cambridge through his leadership defeats and eventual decision to leave Westminster for the north. The conversation covers Burnham's two Labour leadership campaigns, the unexpected rise of Jeremy Corbyn, the impact of Brexit, and the soul-searching that led to major career decisions during a period of repeated defeats.
The 2010 and 2015 Leadership Campaigns
Steve Rotherham reflects on Andy Burnham's two attempts at Labour leadership. The 2010 campaign was essentially a profile-raising exercise where Burnham was second to drop out in the Ed vs David Miliband race. However, 2015 was different - Burnham appeared to be the frontrunner with overwhelming support initially, until Jeremy Corbyn entered the race and everything changed.
- 2010 was a 'stab in the dark' to raise Burnham's profile, where he was second to drop out
- In 2015, Rotherham managed Burnham's campaign with Michael Dugan and others who understood winning campaigns
The Whiteboard Campaign and Corbyn's Unexpected Rise
Rotherham describes running Burnham's 2015 campaign from his Westminster office with a whiteboard tracking MP endorsements. They were so far ahead they ran out of space and had to use pieces of paper. The left was expected to choose Diane Abbott again, which didn't worry the campaign, but then Jeremy Corbyn emerged as the candidate and everything began to shift dramatically.
- Had a whiteboard in Westminster office tracking names supporting Andy - ran out of space due to so many endorsements
- Expected Diane Abbott to be the left's candidate and weren't fearful because she hadn't ignited appetite for change previously
- One by one, people started defecting to Jeremy Corbyn for various spurious reasons
" We'd run out of whiteboards and so we'd have to put stuff, pieces of paper with their names "
" Some people because they'd sat by him in parliament and stuff like that and they'd heard him and he was a decent orator so he could carry an argument. "
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