Andy Burnham’s silence is deafening – and he’s about to hand Farage a huge victory
Andy Burnham is odds-on to be PM – but the Brexit question he kept dodging in a 65% Leave seat could come to define his premiership.
Andy Burnham runs past without answering questions. (Image: Andy Stenning)
Now odds-on to become Britain’s next Prime Minister in what could be a coronation as other candidates step aside, Andy Burnham spent years arguing for the UK to head back into the EU. Yet the seat that carried him back to Westminster, Makerfield, voted by 65% to leave it. It could be that tension which sits at the heart of the questions now being asked about what a Burnham premiership would mean for Britain’s historic vote to leave.
Wannabe Prime Minister Burnham has never masked his instincts on the continent, having long favoured deeper alignment with Brussels. He has even spoken of Britain rejoining and firmly belongs to the wing of the Labour Party most enthusiastic about a so-called reset of relations with the bloc. But during the by-election, he kept remarkably silent about the subject.
When Wes Streeting sought to push the question of rejoining the agenda, Mr Burnham deflected it.
And when confronted by this newspaper directly, he declined to engage and simply jogged away.
His office subsequently turned down a request for an interview, giving no reason.
For a politician seeking the keys to Downing Street in a constituency that voted overwhelmingly to leave, it was a telling silence.
Brexiteers would be right to be entirely unconvinced about the legitimacy of Mr Burnham’s position.
Many senior figures in that historic campaign are concerned not that he will openly campaign to rejoin, but that Brexit could continue to be eroded by stealth.
That would take place through the expansion of “dynamic alignment” with EU rules, deeper concessions on standards and oversight, and a gradual convergence that is never put to voters directly.
In short, Mr Burnham could seek a reversal of the referendum by increment rather than by vote.
Andy Burnham MP leaving Manchester Piccadilly for Westminster. (Image: Manchester Evening News)
A potential Burnham coronation will only serve to embolden those who seek closer ties.
This week marks 10 years since the 2016 vote. It marks a totemic moment in British political history, and the Daily Express is proud to have been the first paper ever to demand that the United Kingdom break free of Brussels.
So the electoral risks of an undermining of Brexit by stealth are considerable.
Reform UK, beaten into second in Makerfield, will quickly pounce on any sign of backsliding to court Leave voters across the so-called Red Wall, where Labour remains vulnerable.
A Burnham Government seen to be edging back towards Brussels could hand Nigel Farage exactly the dividing line he wants.
For now, Mr Burnham is keeping his options closed and his language careful.
But the Brexit question, long thought settled, has been reopened by his rise – and how he answers it may come to define his time in office.
