Andy Burnham’s long coup: the chaotic year-long project to return him to Westminster

Efforts of campaign groups, supporters and party figures coalesced after May elections as MPs’ views began to change The third coming of Andy Burnham began in earnest on the dancefloor of the Ministry of Sound. It was the annual conference of the centre-left pressure group Compass in May 2025, on an unusually hot spring weekend. Keir Starmer, a year into his premiership, was deep in the trenches of the welfare battle. And the keynote speakers were Andy Burnham and Louise Haigh. Continue rea...

By Jessica Elgot and Josh Halliday