Burnham v Streeting?

Plus: the UK’s long road back to the EU

May 20, 2026

Andy Burnham has already made one crucial mistake in his bid to represent Makerfield in parliament—the soundtrack to his launch video was Oasis’s “Some Might Say” when it obviously should’ve been “Wonderwall”. I mean come on... “maybe you’re gonna be the one that saves me” i.e. Burnham as fated saviour of the beleaguered Labour party. It was right there! Look, I guess “we might find a brighter day” is less messianic in its optimism, while still emphasising his Mancunian roots. Perhaps The Smiths’ “This Charming Man” might also have been too on the nose.

Indeed, perhaps the more humble song choice is a response to the “scornful derision of many professional politics watchers”, as Tom Clark puts it. “Any attempt to translate the Greater Manchester mayor’s new municipalism to the national stage would, they say, be doomed by the bond markets in no time,” he writes. When Clark visits Prospect HQ, he bounds in with an irrepressible cheerfulness, so it doesn’t surprise me that he eschews such cynicism.

If Burnham wins in Makerfield—and that’s a big if—he wouldn’t need to move mountains to begin stitching Labour’s traditional coalition back together, Clark argues. He’d just need to stop Keir Starmer’s destructive factionalism, as represented by Labour Together, and actually bring Labour, well, together. (If you need a refresher on the questionable tactics used by said thinktank, give Monday’s episode of Media Confidential a listen.)

Uniting the party might be easier said than done, however. Wes Streeting is still openly running to replace Starmer too—and he fired an opening salvo over the weekend by calling for the UK to rejoin the European Union in future. (Conversely, Burnham seems to be back-pedalling on his embrace of the EU while campaigning for a Leave-voting seat.) Andrew Adonis, a tireless advocate of British engagement with Europe, is pleased that “Rejoin has been relaunched”. But he warns that the road back will be long and rocky, as was the road to joining the first time around.

On this week’s episode of the Prospect Podcast, we keep looking abroad. Our guest Sally Hayden speaks to Ellen and Alona about her new book This is also a Love Story, a powerful account of human resilience amid conflicts and crises around the globe. Hayden wrote the diary column in our latest issue on life in Lebanon—where she lives—amid Israel’s bombardment of the country.

Speaking of good reads, there are plenty to choose from in this month’s Books in Brief. Plus, Yáng Shuāng-zǐ’s Taiwan Travelogue was awarded the International Booker Prize yesterday—Miriam Balanescu reviewed that in a previous Books in Brief, included below. Email your thoughts on Mancunian music, plus any other matters, to ben.clark@prospectmagazine.co.uk. P.S. apparently Streeting has been known to do karaoke to Robbie Williams and Starmer selected Stormzy on his Desert Island Discs, insisting his advisers didn’t choose it for him. Perhaps the first job for Labour’s next leader is finding a new Spotify playlist.