Burnham’s ambitious plans need room to breathe – and Westminster suffocates change | Rafael Behr

Politics The Guardian By Rafael Behr 01 Sep 2026 16:46 1 min read
Burnham’s ambitious plans need room to breathe – and Westminster suffocates change | Rafael Behr

A summer on the road suited the prime minister’s open style, but now the walls of conventional politics are closing in Nothing stays fresh for long in parliament and no one sounds normal. The air, thick with convention, suffocates originality, tuning every voice to the same Westminster pitch. The need to escape that climate is one reason why Andy Burnham quit his Commons seat to run for mayor of Greater Manchester. Or that is how he tells the story. Returning after nearly a decade away, the prim

Returning after nearly a decade away, the prime minister says he wants to throw open the windows, let in some air. He thinks devolution can cultivate a healthier political culture. He intends to rebalance England’s centre of gravity with a power base in the new No 10 North.

Continue reading...

Covered in this story

Read the full story on The Guardian → Opens the original article on www.theguardian.com

Summary aggregated from The Guardian's public RSS feed. The full reporting belongs to The Guardian — please read it on their site.