Episode 3338
Andy Burnham
Tue, 2026-Jun-23 03:45 UTC
Length - 4:33
Direct Link
Welcome to popular Wiki of the Day, spotlighting Wikipedia's most visited pages, giving you a peek into what the world is curious about today.
With 934,733 views on Monday, 22 June 2026 our article of the day is Andy Burnham.
Andrew Murray Burnham (born 7 January 1970) is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Makerfield since June 2026. A Labour Co-op member, he is currently a candidate for the 2026 Labour Party leadership election to succeed Keir Starmer as Prime Minister and leader of the Labour Party. He previously served as the Mayor of Greater Manchester from 2017 to 2026 and the MP for Leigh from 2001 to 2017. During his parliamentary career before becoming mayor, he held several cabinet positions, lastly as Secretary of State for Health from 2009 to 2010 under Gordon Brown. Burnham identifies as a socialist and is associated with the soft left faction of the Labour Party.
Born in Aintree, Liverpool, and raised in Culcheth, Burnham was educated at St Aelred's Catholic High School in Newton-le-Willows and studied English at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. He joined the Labour Party at the age of 15 and his early career included working as a researcher for Tessa Jowell, a parliamentary officer for the NHS Confederation and an administrator with the Football Task Force. From 1998 to 2001, he was a special adviser to Culture Secretary Chris Smith. At the 2001 general election, he was elected as MP for Leigh in Greater Manchester. Under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, he held several government roles, including parliamentary private secretary; Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department; Minister of State for Health; Chief Secretary to the Treasury; and Culture Secretary, a role in which he launched the second Hillsborough inquiry. In 2009, he was promoted to Health Secretary, a role in which he responded to the swine flu pandemic and launched an independent inquiry into the Stafford Hospital scandal.
Following the 2010 general election, Burnham was a candidate in the 2010 Labour leadership election won by Ed Miliband, coming fourth out of five candidates. From 2010 to 2015, he served as Shadow Education Secretary and Shadow Health Secretary under Miliband. Following the 2015 general election, Burnham contested the resulting Labour leadership election, and finished second behind Jeremy Corbyn. From 2015 to 2016, Burnham served as Shadow Home Secretary under Corbyn. After being selected as Labour's candidate for the new Greater Manchester Mayoralty, he stood down as an MP at the 2017 general election, won the 2017 mayoral election, and was re-elected in the 2021 and 2024 elections.
Burnham has been cited as the most likely successor to Starmer. While Starmer's honeymoon period was brief, Burnham maintained high approval in Greater Manchester for the entire 9 years of his mayoralty, and, by August 2025, polls identified Burnham as the most popular senior Labour figure. During the crisis surrounding Starmer's leadership, which culminated in widespread loss of support for Labour in the May 2026 local elections, and Scottish and Wales parliamentary elections, Burnham became widely seen as a possible successor. Josh Simons, the MP for Makerfield in Greater Manchester, stood down to allow Burnham to stand for parliament again, a necessary step to seek the party leadership. Burnham won the resulting by-election on 18 June with 54.8% of the vote. Four days later Starmer announced he would resign. The same day, Burnham announced his candidacy in the Labour Party leadership election to succeed Starmer, with Wes Streeting, seen as his most likely competitor, announcing he would not compete but would support Burnham.
This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 03:45 UTC on Tuesday, 23 June 2026.
For the full current version of the article, see Andy Burnham on Wikipedia.
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Until next time, I'm generative Niamh.
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