Rather than the all-singing, all-dancing razzmatazz of a US political convention, Britain’s annual political conference season can sometimes be a bit of a tough sell: often rather wooden speeches; little discussion about policy; MPs filmed singing karaoke (and it’s usually Oasis). It’s a useful gathering for seeing lots of politicians in one go, and to assess the mood of party members, but often not much more than that.
But at this week’s Labour party conference in Liverpool, we witnessed something different. Two months into his job as Britain’s prime minister, Andy Burnham delivered a speech that not only galvanised the crowd in the hall, but also offered the kind of optimistic vision of what the UK could look like that has been so lacking in recent years. Having transformed Manchester as its mayor, Burnham unveiled ambitious and far-reaching proposals to similarly reshape British society – from a national social care service funded by pension reforms, to overhauling Britain’s voting system.
I was in the hall for the speech and was quite amazed by it. I was touched by the image of Burnham’s grandmother’s house, bought when a working-class salary could buy you a home, that gave his family such stability, and by the PM’s emotion when he talked about the recent death of his father, Roy, who had dementia and didn’t know his son had become prime minister. Do read our leader and listen to Pippa Crerar and Kiran Stacey discuss Burnham’s big moment in depth on a great episode of Politics Weekly UK.
Our political sketch writer John Crace summed up the appeal of such a personal speech. It was, he wrote: “a private therapy session in which everything that had been bothering Burnham about the way the country didn’t work was laid out for public consumption.”
It’s still very early in his premiership and there have been false dawns before in British politics. It remains to be seen whether this talented communicator, who brought an undeniable energy to conference this year, can turn his ideas into reality. Our coverage of the conference captured everything from Jessica Elgot’s report on the radical shift in mood within Labour, to Pippa’s interview with Burnham on the eve of the conference. Richard Partington and Heather Stewart spoke to businesses as they brace for a critical budget in a few weeks’ time. And, among the euphoria, we kept a sharp focus on the most eye-catching of Burnham’s proposals and the challenges they would face, from Patrick Butler’s analysis of the social care plans to Ashley Kirk and Antonio Voce’s interactive look at how proportional representation might work across the UK. On Thursday night, Pippa, Patrick and Rowena Mason exclusively revealed a less uplifting aspect of the Burnham programme: plans for major welfare changes including the end of a key disability benefit for under-25s.
Burnham’s successful first few months in office (no mean feat in the UK) have so far proved a testament to the power of saying what has become unsayable, and being able to communicate a clear sense of direction, even hope. What comes next as Burnham tries to enact his transformative agenda will be fascinating, and critical for the future of the UK. We will, of course, be there for all of it.
