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Andy Burnham’s choice of the People’s History Museum (PHM) – the “national museum of democracy” – for a major speech on his approach to governing Britian, was no accident. It signalled alignment with popular struggles while anchoring his pitch in a specific Mancunian narrative of people-powered progress. He invoked the Peterloo Massacre (1819), where ordinary people challenged a state “not built with them in mind,” positioning himself in a lineage of radical-reformist pressure from below. He also referenced the Rochdale Pioneers and the Co-operative movement (1844 onward) as models of mutual self-help against market exploitation, alongside trade unions as essential partners in “place-based” collaboration.

This is rhetorically powerful. It flatters a Labour audience weary of Starmer-era technocracy and taps into northern pride and working-class memory. Yet, critically, it is highly selective. Peterloo radicals demanded fundamental democratic overhaul (parliamentary reform, suffrage) against a repressive state; Burnham’s speech frames change as pragmatic devolution and partnership within existing institutions.

The co-op movement and unions – for Burnham – appear as harmonious stakeholders in a “strong partnership between all sectors – public, private, community, voluntary, academic, faith, and our trade unions,” rather than as sites of class antagonism or counter-hegemonic power.

This mirrors elite strategies we have dissected elsewhere: philanthropic and intellectual networks legitimising power through narratives of enlightened stewardship and managed reform. Burnham’s “people’s history” here functions less as subversive memory and more as affective branding for a leadership bid that bypasses a full contest or immediate general election. The venue and references lend radical sheen to what is, in substance, a mayoral success story scaled nationally – strong on symbolism, lighter on confronting entrenched class or regional power imbalances.

Yet, there is controversy over Burnham’s economic successes in Manchester’s city centre – while neglecting the broader hinterland of run-down northern towns like Wigan, for example, made (in)famous by George Orwell in The Road to Wigan Pier based on his travels during the great depression of the 1930s.

Defence Investment Plan (DIP) and Industrial Strategy

A notable emphasis is Burnham’s commitment to public procurement reform, explicitly extending to the Defence Investment Plan. He criticises past “cut price deals around the world” and pledges that taxpayer pounds will prioritise British suppliers for stability and competitiveness: “that approach will apply fully to the Defense Investment Plan (DIP).” This aligns with reindustrialisation goals, cluster development, and positioning Britain as an “innovation nation.”

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