There’s a new sheriff in town.
Buckle up for the ride! There are plenty of political communication challenges for Burnham.
It’s a familiar sight by now.
The Downing Street lectern hastily rolled out by ‘hot podium guy’, the media scrum competing for prime position, the slow plank walk of a glum PM set to announce their untimely exit, while the removal vans roll up, signalling another change of occupant.
An entire nation does a collective eye-roll.
Even Larry the Cat is unimpressed. He’s officially Downing Street’s longest-serving resident, having outlasted Cameron, May, Johnson, Truss, Sunak and Starmer. And now, his summer napping schedule is being rudely interrupted by the arrival of a new PM and his dog to spar with and outwit.
So how does Andy Burnham and his new No 10 media team win over a grumpy cat and a country tired of political intrigue and drama?
And, what are the political communication challenges for new PM Burnham as he walks through this famous door?
Shake and Stack to Put the Freshness Back
Shake things up and stack that first 100-day media grid with change, change, change.
Communicating that change and a compelling vision will be central to his electoral pitch to the voters. (Apologies for the dodgy 80s advert jingle that’s now stuck in your head… If you don’t get the inference, count yourself lucky!).
The new narrative should be about change, communication, and connection.
Since the 2024 election, the public’s appetite for radical change has grown, with a recent poll showing that 42% of voters want big changes and 36% favour gradual change.
In policy terms, they’ve made a strong start with the new ‘No 10 North’ plan, which will change the optics and force the Whitehall machine out of its Westminster comfort zone. Burnham’s full apology for the party’s slow response in calling for a ceasefire in Gaza is another policy gear change that sets him apart from his predecessor and suggests a new direction of travel. So does a passionate and personal commitment to fixing the broken social care system because his father has Alzheimer’s and has experienced those failings firsthand.
Starmer and some of his Cabinet picks weren’t always the strongest or most fluid communicators, and Burnham will do well to get a top team in place that can bring dynamism, energy, and a strong sense of forward momentum.
Lights, Camera, Andy!
Apart from the one set-piece speech, he’s deployed a quiet media strategy since becoming PM-in-waiting.
From Day One, the strategy will very likely switch to maximum visibility and velocity.
He’ll be under the microscope, and the glare of media scrutiny will be intense, as he is bound to draw much fire for the lack of a leadership contest/general election surrounding his appointment/coronation.
There won’t be much of a honeymoon period. The probing interviews will come thick and fast, and so they should, at a time of great political transition in the middle of a Parliament. Everything changes when the man at the top changes, and journalists are right to ask rigorous questions and delve deep.
The Manchester Scene
Manchester’s economy is a success story. Under Burnham’s leadership, the city has become the fastest-growing economy in the UK outside of the capital, with job creation far outpacing the national average.
On homelessness, he quickly mobilised the innovative ‘A Bed Every Night’ scheme to provide emergency shelter for the city’s rough sleepers, and while numbers initially fell to a record low, they have recently begun to rise again.
The seamless ‘London-style’ Bee Network has transformed the city’s transport and boldly brought buses back under public franchising while investing millions in active travel schemes.
Yet, that boldness didn’t extend to fixing the city’s poor air quality. Manchester has some of the UK’s worst air pollution levels caused by heavy traffic hotspots, and he controversially U-turned on plans to introduce a Clean Air Zone.
For many critics, the weakest part of his Mayoral record was the failure of oversight at Greater Manchester Police, which meant that more than a staggering 80,000 crimes went unrecorded. GMP exited special measures in 2022 and has since improved significantly, according to the police watchdog, but it was a damaging chapter for Burnham.
Much bigger battles lie ahead, and in recent weeks, as he prepares for power, he has dropped his support for migrants’ benefits and backtracked on compensation payouts to ‘WASPI women’.
Political Communication Challenges for Burnham
Governing is about priorities, and he’ll have to make some very tough and unpopular choices as PM.
Welfare reform, social care, cost-of-living, the triple lock, net zero, a sluggish economy – the list goes on and on.
No more kicking the can down the road; he’ll need to make the urgent case for change and drive sometimes unpopular policies through.
Tough times make tough leaders. Jeremy Hunt, the former Chancellor and Foreign Secretary, gave a refreshingly honest interview with James Naughtie earlier this week about his time in government. Hunt, who’s always been an able communicator, had this sage advice for the new PM:
“You’re [Burnham] really good at communicating and connecting with people. That’s a brilliant start. Communication wins votes for parties. But being PM is different. You’ve got to harness those communication skills to win an argument for things that are unpopular. From Day One, if you use those communication skills to make the argument for things that are unpopular, you have the chance to be a great Prime Minister.”
That power to communicate was very much in evidence in another story I recently heard, about his first days as Mayor and his governing style. Soon after his victory, he called Manchester University’s Vice Chancellor to ask why the city couldn’t be more like Cambridge, his alma mater, and attract the best talent, foreign investment, and start-up growth.
Burnham’s opening line was a direct one:
“We need to grow prosperity in Manchester. Almost two-thirds of young people in our region don’t even go to university. How are YOU going to help them succeed?”
I’m paraphrasing, but you catch the drift.
It was the right question to ask at the right time and showed the scale and ambition of the Burnham project from the beginning. That intervention and direct approach has heralded a new ‘era of collaboration and partnership’ between the two universities to drive regional economic growth and strengthen connections.
Much of politics at the top is about knocking heads together and getting everyone to pull in the same direction, with a laser focus on a single central mission to galvanise the Whitehall machine into action. Those are the kind of much-needed leadership skills that have been missing recently.
If Burnham can reproduce that early form of his first days as Manchester Mayor, and connect with the public, then the mood music might well change for Labour.
You can read our previous post on political campaigns here and a new post on communicating hope in the new Andy Burnham era here.
Katherine Porter is a former TV journalist with extensive PR experience. She has worked in senior public sector roles, including as PR manager for the London Olympics and as a Director of Communications in the US. Most recently, she worked in charity sector comms before setting up her own PR agency. She also writes regularly on Substack.
