557. Can Burnham Deliver Britain's Biggest Change in Generations?
episodePreviously titled “557. Can Burnham Really Deliver Britain’s Biggest Change in Forty Years?” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 4, 2026
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Can Andy Burnham deliver major change within a single term?
Can Andy Burnham in a single term overcome problems that he says have been generations in the making? So we're into week two of the Burnham era and the steady flow continues, whether big policy objectives like reforming social care or the smaller policy tweaks on rates, bus fares, electricity bills and the like. This new prime minister is clearly not lacking in energy, activity or ambition. Also, he's opened the door to number 10 North. He's met with President Zelensky and he's established a very different communication strategy to Keir Starmer with social media central to it. And when the New York Times fashion editor is sent to analyze your outfits, I think we can say you're making your mark. So far, so good then.
And with Nigel Farage locked in a by-election battle with the bin and Reform UK struggling with a host of financial scandals, Labour have moved ahead in the polls. But announcements are the easy part. Delivery is much harder. And when you're promising the biggest change in 40 years, you're setting high expectations. Today, Annie Burnham has announced a whole new vision for education. Is this the sort of reform that could defy voters' cynicism and really change the country for the long term? That's the agenda for the rest of politics today. This episode is powered by Fuse Energy. Right now, Fuse Energy's tariffs are up to £200 below the Ofgem price cap. Plus, they've just launched a new referral offer that can bring your bill down even further.
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How is Burnham using communication and media differently to stay 'in the conversation'?
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Welcome to The Rest Is Politics with me, Alistair Campbell. And with me, Rory Stewart. He has sort of, I mean, I hate that cliche, hit the ground running, but he's kind of has hit the ground running. Every time you turn on the TV, Andy Burnham this, Andy Burnham that. The newspapers keep leading on Andy Burnham, something new. What have you made of it so far?
Two big things. I think one is... It's lovely to see somebody who's a much more fluent communicator. I watched the Laura Koonsberg Panorama interview and was very struck with the way that he dealt much more comfortably than Starmer would have done with challenges around, you know, his conversations with Trump and stuff. I mean, it's not rocket science, but Burnham has developed a much more easy way of sitting in his chair and not sounding like he's sort of reading from a teleprompter. So I think that's great. I think that the bigger issue, I suppose, and he can get a long way on communication. I mean, I think a lot of the people that we've interviewed and we've liked on Leading have just been great communicators.
And let's hope that he's able to get a bit of that energy that we got from Iceland or we got from Greece or we got from Spain or we get from Canada. The second thing I guess is dealing with the more fundamental problems in the country. And maybe we've got to the time now that we want to really think about what the big changes would be, what the governing changes would be. So maybe this is a chance to talk about devolution, chance to talk about adult social care, chance to talk, I know you wanted to talk about vocational education, but the kind of big policy changes that Burnham wants to bring, and maybe a little bit about what he isn't talking about yet. What struck you on the policy side?
Just first of all, on your point about the communication, I was struck, you mentioned some of the people we had on leading, I was struck by something that Jeremy Hunt, the former Tory Chancellor and Foreign Secretary said, do you remember he said he wanted Keir Starmer to succeed, he felt it was important for the country that he did.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
Can Andy Burnham deliver major change within a single term?
0:01–2:01
2
How is Burnham using communication and media differently to stay 'in the conversation'?
2:01–5:12
3
What is Burnham’s new vision for vocational education and why now?
5:12–39:36
4
Could a Swiss- or German-style vocational system work for most UK jobs?
39:36–55:07
Speakers
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