Andy Burnham will become the 58th Prime Minister of the UK when he is sworn into office on Monday afternoon. He is the first person from the area now known as Greater Manchester to hold the office in almost 200 years.
Historical Context: Northern Prime Ministers
Surprisingly few of the 58 Prime Ministers have been from the North of England. Even fewer have hailed from or represented the area we now call Greater Manchester. The last person from that region to sit in 10 Downing Street was Bury-born Sir Robert Peel, who served as PM from 1834-35 and again from 1841-46.
Sir Robert Peel, the father of the modern police force and one of the founders of the modern Conservative Party, was the son of a wealthy textiles magnate and politician. It is thought he may have attended Bury Grammar School before going to Harrow and Oxford University. A statue of Sir Robert stands in Market Place in Bury town centre, the local Wetherspoons is named after him, and the Peel monument on Holcombe Hill near Ramsbottom also bears his name.
Recent Northern PMs
Before Cheshire-raised Mr Burnham, Huddersfield's Harold Wilson — twice Labour PM in the 1960s and 1970s — was the last man born in the North to hold the highest office in the land. His statue now stands outside the town's railway station.
Manchester also has a claim on the only Welshman to serve as Prime Minister. David Lloyd-George, best known for pioneering the welfare state and leading the UK through the latter half of the First World War, was born in Chorlton-on-Medlock in 1863 to a Welsh mother and father. But when his school teacher dad died the following year, the family returned to Caernarvonshire, where he served as an MP for 55 years.
Southern-Born PMs Representing Northern Constituencies
A number of other recent PMs have represented Northern constituencies, despite their Southern roots. Southampton-born Rishi Sunak, Tory PM from 2022-24, has stood as the MP for Richmond in North Yorkshire since 2015. Labour's longest serving Prime Minister, Sir Tony Blair, was born in Edinburgh but raised in London. He represented Sedgefield in the North East for 24 years and supported Newcastle United. For years Mr Blair was mocked after it was reported he had claimed to have watched Jackie Milburn play for the Magpies, despite being four years old and living in Australia when Milburn retired. However, in 2008 a Scottish newspaper admitted it had misreported him in 1997 'and the rumour grew from there'.
