The Greater Manchester mayor reveals his formative experiences and shares stories from his time in politics in his new memoirs
Andy Burnham has shared stories from his youth, his time in Parliament and his regrets in politics in a new book published this week. Half-memoir, half-manifesto, the book - Head North - is billed as a 'rally cry for for a more equal Britain'.
But in the book, Mr Burnham reveals that he initially avoided Mr Rotheram when they would bump into each other at events, assuming he was a member of the Lib Dems who controlled Liverpool council at the time. "Eventually," Mr Burnham writes, "Steve’s patience ran out: ‘You do know I’m Labour, don’t you?’ It was the cue for the start of a beautiful friendship.
The 'jubilant scenes' - and his 'questionable fashion choices' - were captured by the Match of the Day cameras, Mr Burnham recalls. The celebrations were also cited in the 1992 book Fever Pitch in which writer Nick Hornby records his annoyance that Highbury lost its status as a venue for FA Cup semi-finals because ‘some stupid Everton fans ran on the pitch in 1984’.His favourite albums, bands and gigs Mr Burnham's other 'obsession' growing up was music.
"Yes, we may be hidden by rags, but we have something they’ll never have. It was enormously empowering." He started working for the MP in February 1994, a few months before the tragic death of Labour leader John Smith - a man who Mr Burnham says was 'probably the politician who I felt most embodied my own values'. Three years later, Mr Burnham was working at Labour's Millbank HQ when the party returned to power following a landslide at the general election.
His regrets over the Iraq war One of the proposals in the mayors' 10-point plan is to scrap the whip system which punishes MPs who vote against their party. Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, Mr Burnham said that allowing MPs to use some 'independence of thought' and vote freely would raise their 'status' with the public.
"Because people thought he might have them, they were too frightened to rise up against him. That was why he would never let the weapons inspectors complete their work." It was Mr Roterham, his friend and now fellow mayor in Liverpool, who called three times before Mr Burnham finally picked up, sensing from his repeated calls that something was wrong. Mr Rotherham's daughters were at Ariana Grande concert where a terrorist had detonated a bomb that killed 22 people - including many children and young people - at the arena.
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