Andy Burnham’s ‘even more emotional now’: What makes Britain’s most popular politician tick?

B ritain’s prime minister Andy Burnham flies into Dublin from Turkey on Thursday afternoon to join about 50 other heads of government for the European Political Community (EPC) summit and, later, the leaders’ dinner. As he takes his seat with the other prime ministers around the table at the National Gallery, what sort of leader has Burnham become, four months after taking office over summer? A leader capable of taking Labour from the verge of third place to first in opinion polls, is the most obvious answer.

Burnham has also kept his status as, officially, the most popular politician and party leader in Britain – the only one with a positive YouGov rating. British voters have responded broadly positively to Burnham’s mix of folksy, populist, incremental interventions, such as capping bus fares and targeting bad etiquette on public transport, while he simultaneously tries to stretch the boundaries of debate on far meatier issues, such as whether Britain should ever rejoin the European Union.

“He is basically defying all expectations among those of us who thought changing the party leadership was a bad thing,” said one former Labour MP and current power broker, a colleague of Burnham’s when the UK prime minister first entered parliament in 2001. “Any of us who had been through the trauma of the Blair - Brown changeover were cautious about what was happening. But for the first time in Labour history, we have had a bloodless coup.

That is mostly down to his approach.” Another Labour parliamentarian cited the boilerplate phrase relentlessly deployed by Burnham’s team over the summer to describe the new prime minister’s preferred style of handover, when he was in the midst of ousting Keir Starmer from Downing Street. [ Is Andy Burnham laying a Brexit trap or falling into one? Opens in new window ] “Andy promised a ‘smooth and orderly transition’,” said the parliamentarian.

“Well, we’ve had it. Other than one or two whose noses are out of joint – including Keir himself – mostly everybody is on-board. That’s testament to Andy’s emotional intelligence and charisma.” 'Andy promised a "smooth and orderly transition",' says one parliamentarian. 'Well, we’ve had it.' Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty One of the few senior former members of the Starmer regime said to hold some animus towards Burnham is Darren Jones , who ran the powerful cabinet office for Starmer.

Burnham sacked Jones, who has responded by occasionally carping from the sidelines. “If you asked Burnham’s team, they would privately acknowledge that sacking Darren was probably a mistake. They would say that they wanted the cabinet to look fresher at the time. But it just disgruntled Darren,” said the source. “But that aside, everyone else took the changes pretty well. In total, about 30 or so ministers of all levels were moved on when Andy took over from Keir.

But many of them have been assured by Andy’s team that it is not the end of the road for them.” Another former Labour MP who was part of Labour’s 2001 election intake alongside Burnham said he believed the British public was now witnessing a “new, improved Andy”, as he settles into life in Downing Street. “He is a pragmatic idealist,” said the politician. Yet there are still a few in Labour’s Westminster political family who wonder how Burnham might react when big, potentially unpopular decisions cross his desk in future, such as whether to deploy British troops in combat as part of some geopolitical crisis.

“If there’s one doubt I have, it’s this: Andy had a reputation for procrastination as a minister under Blair and Brown. I wonder if he’d make the tough calls in time, such as sending troops. But you’d have to say that so far, so good,” said a Labour senior figure. [ Andy Burnham is right. Holding a poll to test the waters on unity should be off the table Opens in new window ] A different MP with close links to Burnham’s regime responded that it was “just b****cks” that the prime minister could potentially “shirk the big decisions”.

Andy Burnham gives regular mainstream media interviews, but clearly prefers engaging with the public through viral videos on social media, overseen by digital comms guru Abby Tomlinson. Photograph: Richard Pohle-WPA Pool/Getty “No matter what anyone says, you will soon see his willingness to go big on issues like Europe and even welfare reform. He’s still being underestimated there,” said the MP. The British public are growing used to the down-home political persona of the man previously known in his bailiwick as “King of the North”, following a largely successful, nine-year stint as mayor of Greater Manchester, where easy charm was his hallmark.

The Westminster lobby media pack complains Burnham is less open to formal scrutiny than his predecessors. For example, he refused to bring a travelling press pack to Antigua last week for a meeting of the Commonwealth. He does regular mainstream media interviews, but clearly prefers engaging with the public through viral videos on social media, overseen by Downing Street’s digital comms guru, Abby Tomlinson. In September, for example, Burnham had a video face-off against Taoiseach Micheál Martin over which leader drank the best tea.

Other viral offerings have included videos of Burnham discussing his favourite bar snack (salt and vinegar crisps) with his chancellor John Healey, and another fluttering his eyelashes provocatively after Tory leader Kemi Badenoch remarked upon them in the House of Commons. If Burnham is folksy in public, what is he like to work with behind the scenes? “Cabinet ministers I talk to say that what you see on television is how he behaves with them in private,” said a senior Labour figure.

They added that Burnham “looks after himself”, gets his eight hours sleep, and a running joke among his cabinet colleagues is that he always looks fresher than they do. “He doesn’t have temper tantrums like some of his predecessors. Cabinet ministers also say he takes an interest in their briefs and is engaging about it, while Keir wasn’t interested in what most of them were doing. They get easy access to Andy. He delegates, but he isn’t just doing a form of ‘sofa government’,” they said. [ Andy Burnham has a mission.

Now he needs a mandate to deliver it Opens in new window ] “He expects his cabinet ministers to make a case for their department. He is interested in it, but there is also an expectation that they run their own departments. Alex Norris (justice secretary who has had to deal with overflowing prisons) probably got the biggest hospital pass in Andy’s cabinet. “But Andy gives them what he needs, even the ones with the stickier briefs, like Alex.

He is also generous to his opponents in a way that Keir never was.” One Labour parliamentarian who has known Burnham for decades said he “has a massive ego, and he can get quite emotional”. UK prime minister Andy Burnham at the Labour Party's annual conference, where he fought back tears as he remembered his father. Photograph: Ian Forsyth/Getty “But if anything, I think he is even more emotional now than he was when he was younger. The stuff about bad behaviour on trains, how he thinks his beloved Everton football club were treated unfairly etc, these things really do motivate him.

“And that casual style currently works for him, but I wonder if it could become tiresome for the electorate down the line. The viral videos and everything else – I wonder could that eventually end up annoying people.” Burnham’s drive to take on clear missions based on social values, such as the promise to try to end rough sleeping that he made on his first day as prime minister, has also gone down well with his Labour colleagues. “When I heard him say that about ending homeless people sleeping on the streets after he walked up Dowing Street, I just thought ‘God bless you,’” said one, who said they were grateful for a leader who seems to “get” Labour values in a way that Starmer didn’t. Values and vibes can only get Burnham so far, however.

Westminster awaits his much-vaunted “10-year plan” for Britain, which will outline how Burnham intends to deal with big issues facing the country, such as defence spending, youth unemployment and welfare reform. The plan is expected before the end of the year or early next year, when Britain may still be mired deep in a fresh cost-of-living crisis brought on by rising energy costs. Burnham’s willingness to take tough decisions in straitened circumstances may be tested further.

“We shall see,” said a Labour source. “The jury is still out on how he would ever cope with being disliked.”