It’s all change today (Monday 20 July) as Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer steps aside and Andy Burnham, former Mayor of Greater Manchester, takes the reigns. The Liverpool-born, Cheshire-raised and Manchester-made politician has risen to the very top of the tree, but what do his parents – a former telecoms engineer and an ex GP’s receptionist – make of their son’s PM potential? Well, just over a decade ago, his mum made her prediction.
Back in 2015, when Andy was previously in the running to become Labour leader, his mum, Eileen, spoke to the Mirror about what her son could be like if he got the top job. ‘He will change things,’ she told the paper, and said she believed he’d have the ability to truly affect change ‘because he really cares’. His dad, Roy, agreed: ‘Once our Andy gets started, he’s like a terrier with a bone.’
One issue Andy himself highlighted during the same interview was looking after older people through the NHS. The cause was inspired by his grandmother, who spent her life savings to funding her care, before her wedding ring was stolen in a care home. ‘If you get elected, bloody well do something!’ is the message Andy says his mum gave him. He promised to follow through for ageing people and ‘protect everybody from the cost and give them better care’.
While Andy didn’t end up becoming Labour leader in 2015, he went on to become a successful and generally well thought of Mayor of Greater Manchester, even being dubbed ‘King of the North’. However, life as a politician isn’t always smooth sailing, and Eileen said it got to her when she heard people saying things about her son that she didn’t believe were true.
‘When I hear people talking rubbish about him, I get upset. They just don’t know our Andy,’ Eileen told the Mirror. Roy also admitted that, ‘The lies really gut you.’
Just over a decade later, their son is stepping over the threshold of Number 10 Downing Street. After meeting King Charles at Buckingham Palace, who’ll ask him to form a new Government, Andy will deliver a speech to the media from the steps of his new residence.
In his leaving speech, Sir Keir Starmer said, ‘My work here is done,’ and that Andy had his ‘full support’, before formally handing his resignation to the King.
