{"id":1062712,"date":"2026-07-01T23:14:46","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T23:14:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1062712\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T23:14:46","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T23:14:46","slug":"the-most-talked-about-man-in-parliament-wasnt-there","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1062712\/","title":{"rendered":"The most talked about man in Parliament wasn’t there"},"content":{"rendered":"

Listen, for a moment, to the din of voices filling the grand halls and corridors of Westminster, and it won\u2019t be long before you hear a familiar name echoing off the vaulted ceilings.<\/p>\n

Andy Burnham<\/a> is the subject of conversation almost everywhere you turn. In committee rooms, outside the Commons chamber, over hurried coffees and whispered conversations, MPs and staff alike are trying to work out what a Burnham premiership will mean. There are plenty of snipes and wicked jokes, too.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s just the man himself who couldn\u2019t be found.<\/p>\n

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The MEN spent the day in Westminster to take the temperature of a Parliament already beginning to look beyond Sir Keir Starmer’s final days in office and to gauge the mood surrounding the man widely expected to become Britain’s next Prime Minister.<\/p>\n

At Sir Keir Starmer\u2019s penultimate Prime Minister\u2019s Questions, the new Makerfield MP was notably absent. Burnham was instead understood to be engaged in access talks with civil servants as preparations continue for the Labour<\/a> leadership contest. At the time of writing, he remains the only declared candidate, with no obvious challenger emerging.<\/p>\n

His absence, however, did little to stop him becoming one of the day’s principal talking points.<\/p>\n

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch repeatedly challenged Sir Keir over defence spending, accusing the Government of leaving behind a \u00a35bn funding shortfall before turning her attention to Burnham.<\/p>\n

She asked whether the Member for Makerfield had agreed to fund the gap and later suggested that if Burnham did not want to inherit responsibility for the plans, he should publicly distance himself from them.<\/p>\n

Sir Keir declined to answer directly, instead attacking the Conservatives<\/a>‘ own record on defence after what he described as years of “gutting the armed forces”.<\/p>\n

Burnham’s name was mentioned repeatedly during the 40-minute session, which was attended by Nigel Farage, Jeremy Corbyn and MPs from across the House.<\/p>\n

But the sense that Westminster is already beginning to think beyond the current Prime Minister extends far beyond PMQs.<\/p>\n

“It’s the first time in months we’ve seen Labour MPs smile,” one parliamentary staff member remarked.<\/p>\n

“‘Smile’ is a strong word,” his Labour MP boss laughed. “But yes, there’s definitely a sense that things are changing. Burnham has time to develop the details now, but there’s little doubt he’s a far stronger communicator.”<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Sir Keir Starmer <\/p>\n

Elsewhere, the conversation is more cautious than celebratory.<\/p>\n

“The vibe is that a lot of MPs from outside London are excited because they think they’ll finally have a bigger voice,” one Westminster source told the MEN. “A lot of Londoners, meanwhile, are worried they’ll lose influence.<\/p>\n

“The real test is whether Andy can actually deliver on his promise to rebalance the economy so it works for the whole country, not just the Square Mile.”<\/p>\n

For many, though, the dominant feeling is impatience.<\/p>\n

With no rival yet stepping forward to challenge Burnham for the Labour leadership, there is a growing sense that the formal process is catching up with what many inside Westminster already expect to happen.<\/p>\n

“We’re all sitting on our hands waiting for the official process to catch up with political reality,” one Labour MP said.<\/p>\n

Away from the headlines, that process already appears to have begun.<\/p>\n

One MP has temporarily vacated an office to make room for members of Burnham’s campaign team. Across Westminster, conversations have quietly turned towards possible Cabinet appointments, ministerial reshuffles and the shape of a future administration.<\/p>\n

Several MPs suggested Greater Manchester figures could feature prominently if Burnham enters Downing Street, reflecting both his long record as Mayor and the emphasis he has placed on decentralising power beyond Westminster.<\/p>\n

Whether Burnham’s path to No 10 proves quite as smooth as many currently expect remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

But spend even a few hours walking Westminster’s corridors today and one thing becomes clear: the conversation has well and truly already shifted from whether Andy Burnham will lead Labour to what a Burnham government might actually look like.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen, for a moment, to the din of voices filling the grand halls and corridors of Westminster, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1062713,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8813],"tags":[131227,748,393,4884,7779,528,2465,520,16,15],"class_list":["post-1062712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manchester","tag-andy-burnham-mp","tag-britain","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-house-of-commons","tag-labour-party","tag-manchester","tag-sir-keir-starmer","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116847264744900390","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1062712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1062712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1062712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1062713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1062712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1062712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1062712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}