Prime Minister Burnham’s Britain
David Vance SubstackRead More
Unlike some, I really DO think that it matters if Andy Burham wins in Makerfield. He has explicitly stated that he would use this win to mount a challenge to Starmer and thus try to become our next Prime Minister. But what would a Burnham political regime look like? Well, we may have a small and disturbing glimpse of this now happening Manchester. Burnham is going to be a very real threat to our freedoms.
The Free Speech Union reports that senior figures at Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service have been coming down hard on any firefighters who back Reform. Under Andy Burnham’s watch as Mayor and Fire Commissioner, an internal email singles them out, tells colleagues to grass on anyone showing support, and even questions whether these guys can stand as candidates. All this despite no legal restriction stopping firefighters – unlike policemen – from getting involved in politics.
The note from the Fire Brigade bosses sounds polite enough: they’ve already had “words” with the individuals, they’re chasing legal advice, looping in the Fire Brigades Union, and banging on about keeping an “inclusive culture” where everyone feels “safe.” But the message is crystal clear – backing Reform clashes with the service’s sacred “core values.”
Thankfully Toby Young of the FSU has fired off a letter to Burnham calling it exactly what it is: treating Reform support as morally dodgy and a threat to the workplace. Funny how Labour, Lib Dem or Green fans don’t get the same treatment. Selective much?
This isn’t just clumsy HR by the Fire Service. It’s a taxpayer-funded public service trying to police the politics of Burnham’s biggest rivals. Firefighters will now watch what they say and who they back. Fear is being spread in a not so subtle manner under Burnham’s steely gaze.
Now take that exact same approach, stick Burnham in Downing Street, and you see how this could play out nationwide. No clumsy outright bans – way too obvious. Instead, a slow creep of memos, compulsory “values” training, and quiet words in corridors right across Whitehall, the NHS, schools, police forces and every quango going. Staff get reminded their “professional behaviours” need to line up with the government line on diversity, net zero, inclusion, whatever. Slip up by donating to Reform or the Conservatives, or even voicing the wrong opinion, and suddenly you’re flagged. Bosses, sensing the mood, will start encouraging people to report “problematic” colleagues. Promotions go to the safe pair of hands. All of it wrapped in caring language: safeguarding colleagues, defending decency, protecting institutions from “extremism.”
Burnham’s straight-talking northerner act would make this authoritarianism seem more plausible– sleeves rolled up, sounding like the reasonable one while the machine quietly squeezes out dissenting voices. The nasty bit is how quickly it becomes normal. A public sector that’s supposed to serve everyone starts treating support for a serious opposition party as a risk that needs managing. People self-censor, keep their heads down or bail out. Democratic norms get treated like disciplinary issues.
That’s Burnham’s style: look compassionate, sound decent, but steadily tighten the authoritarian grip. In Manchester it’s a fire brigade. In Downing Street it would turn the whole state machine into an extension of one side’s worldview.
And that should worry anyone who values open politics. A Reform win in Makerfield stops all of this and I fully support this outcome. I respectfully disagree with Rupert Lowe and Ban Habib who claim doesn’t really matter if Burnham wins. I think time will prove me right and them wrong and the clue is there for all to see.
