Andy Burnham

Andrew Murray Burnham ( ; born 7 January 1970) is a British politician who has been Leader of the Labour Party since 17 July 2026 and is expected to be appointed prime minister on 20 July. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Makerfield since June 2026, and was Mayor of Greater Manchester from 2017 to 2026. From 2001 to 2017 he was MP for Leigh and held several cabinet positions, lastly Secretary of State for Health from 2009 to 2010 under Gordon Brown. A member of the Labour and Co-operative Party, Burnham identifies as a socialist associated with Labour's soft left faction, and his political ideology is often described as "Manchesterism".

Burnham grew up in Culcheth, between Liverpool and Manchester in Northern England, and joined Labour aged 15. He attended St Aelred's Catholic High School in Newton-le-Willows and read English at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. In his early career, Burnham was a researcher for Tessa Jowell and special adviser to Culture Secretary Chris Smith. At the 2001 election, he was elected MP for Leigh in Greater Manchester. Under the prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, he held several cabinet positions, firstly as Chief Secretary to the Treasury and then as Culture Secretary, in which he launched the Hillsborough Independent Panel. In 2009 he was promoted to Health Secretary, in which he responded to the swine flu pandemic and launched an independent inquiry into the Stafford Hospital scandal.