Artist Stanley Chow has drawn a new portrait of Andy Burnham for the Manchester Evening News to commemorate his first day as Prime Minister. The artwork features the iconic Number 10 door in the background, Burnham's trademark glasses, a faint smile, and a suit and tie.
Chow, an internationally renowned illustrator, explained the subtle but significant differences from his previous images of the former Greater Manchester mayor. “I’m telling a story with this one,” he said. “My original Burnham pictures are quite simple. The simpler they are, the more iconic it becomes. It’s just a head, shoulders, face. With this image I’ve put Number 10 in, but you don’t need the whole door as it’s so iconic. We know exactly where we are.”
Artistic Evolution and Symbolism
Chow noted that Burnham has been instructed to wear a suit, and his expression has shifted slightly. “It’s a tiny bit more smiley and less of a frown. But it needs to be a serious image because it’s a serious job,” he said.
The artist expressed his honour at creating the front page for the M.E.N. “I’m flattered to be asked,” he said. “It’s nice to be commissioned by anyone but it’s great to be asked by the Evening News for such an important moment. Especially because I feel like I’m part of the journey and by accident.”
Inspiration from Lockdown Dispute
Chow was first inspired to draw Burnham following his row with Boris Johnson’s government over lockdown restrictions. In late 2020, the then Prime Minister planned to impose further restrictions on Greater Manchester, and Burnham strongly opposed them, arguing for more financial support for residents. He later accused the government of administering a “punishment beating” to the city.
The Covid inquiry later heard that former Health Secretary Matt Hancock found Liverpool’s local leaders easier to deal with than those in Manchester. One of Sir Patrick Vallance’s diary entries suggested that support and measures for Manchester versus Liverpool were decided for “nakedly political reasons.”
“We were watching the news and saw Andy’s speech,” Chow recalled. “It’s a really rousing speech and especially in a time when you felt like everyone was against everyone. And especially Boris Johnson sticking us in whatever tier it was. And up pops Andy and I thought ‘great! The mayor is actually doing something. We’re not completely powerless. Someone has our backs’.”
His wife urged him to draw Burnham: “Everyone was going through the worst time of their lives and Johnson makes it worse but someone says ‘that ain’t right’. My wife said then and there: ‘You should draw that picture of Andy’.”
Capturing Likeness and Recognition
Chow’s cartoon style has earned international acclaim, with hundreds of portraits of famous figures from Victoria Wood to Karen O to David Lynch. He described the challenge of capturing Burnham’s likeness: “For Andy it’s quite difficult because he’s got quite a cute face and you don’t want it to look too cute. I could have hammed it up and made it more cartoony but I ramped up the seriousness to match that moment in lockdown. Once you get the distance of the eyes right, it all falls into place. Hair is what I find hardest.”
Burnham tweeted the first of Chow’s portraits “within ten minutes” of it being shared on social media and even made it his profile picture, surprising the artist. “For me it was a thank you. It’s nice to be in that position. To do that and be acknowledged,” Chow said.
Controversy Over Misuse
Burnham also used a Chow portrait for his Makerfield by-election campaign. The image was widely shared, but Chow took action when Reform UK leader Nigel Farage shared an AI-generated image of migrants on a boat holding up one of Burnham’s campaign posters featuring Chow’s cartoon. The poster had the words “Vote Andy, For Us.” The image went viral but was later deleted from Reform’s and Farage’s social media channels.
“I was umming and arring about getting a lawyer involved,” Chow said. “Then when Farage tweeted it I felt he’d crossed a line.”
