In politics, comparisons are not necessarily about drawing parallels. Rather, they are a way of exploring how ideas separated by geography and ideology can converge around the same fundamental question. Perhaps one of the most surprising comparisons is that between Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and the late Sudanese Islamic thinker Dr Hassan Al-Turabi. It is difficult to imagine two figures from more contrasting worlds: the former emerged from Britain’s Labour tradition, shaped by the norms of liberal democracy; the latter was one of the leading theorists of political Islam in the twentieth century, whose intellectual and political journey unfolded in a country that has rarely enjoyed lasting stability.

History, however, shows that ideas do not recognise geographical boundaries, and that the great political questions resurface across different times and places. One such question is this: where should power reside? In the capital, or among the people?

Andy Burnham’s campaign for greater powers for England’s cities was never simply an administrative demand aimed at improving public services. It represented a quiet challenge to Britain’s highly centralised system of government.

Having repeatedly clashed with the government in London, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic, Burnham argued that democracy cannot be complete if cities remain dependent on decisions made by officials hundreds of kilometres removed from their everyday realities.

Having repeatedly clashed with the government in London, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic, Burnham argued that democracy cannot be complete if cities remain dependent on decisions made by officials hundreds of kilometres removed from their everyday realities.

He maintained that the people of Manchester understood their own interests better than Whitehall bureaucrats, and that devolving power was not a concession from the centre but the restoration of a........

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