He would be the first PM not to live full-time in Downing Street since Harold Wilson opted to live in Lord North Street during his second premiership from 1974-76
Andy Burnham won’t use 10 Downing Street as his main residence if he becomes prime minister, it is claimed. The King of the North is expected to still live in his family home near Wigan and spend a minimum of a day a week in his proposed Manchester office.
He would be the first PM not to live full-time in Downing Street since Harold Wilson opted to live in Lord North Street during his second premiership from 1974-76.
Mr Burnham – who is widely expected to become Labour leader without a contest in a matter of weeks – lives in Golborne, a former mining town on the outskirts of Wigan, with his wife Marie-France van Heel.
And reports have emerged that he intends to break with tradition and not move into the flat above No10 full-time. Daily Mail columnist Dan Hodges posted on X: “Latest on Burnham’s plans: As PM he will spend a minimum of a day a week in ‘No.10 North’
“He will not use No.10 as his main residence. His primary home will remain in the North West. Senior advisors have already begun work on establishing the Northern Downing Street.”
He later added: “That’s a minimum. The expectation is he’ll spend significantly more time in the North than that.”
In his book Head North, which he co-authored with Liverpool City Region mayor Steve Rotherham, Mr Burnham recounts how he warned his wife in the 90s that “staying with me would mean settling in the North West.”
And in a speech in Manchester on Monday, he set out plans to devolve more power to the North and away from Westminster.
Mr Burnham, who quit Westminster almost decade ago to become Greater Manchester Mayor, said: “We will make politics work for you and the place where you live. I know it can be done, because we have done it here.”
It would also mean Mr Burnham, a season ticket holder at Everton, would be closer to his beloved football club. He previously vowed he wouldn’t give up going to the games if he became PM.
During his 2015 Labour leadership bid, he was asked if he would have to sacrifice his season ticket if he became prime minister. He replied: “No. Never. No, never. I will always go and watch Everton. Always. All my life, it will never change.”
Mr Burnham, who was born in Liverpool, grew up in Culcheth on the outskirts of Warrington and told how he sought the company and advice of fellow northerner Paul Goggins during his first stint in Parliament.
He said Mr Goggins and fellow Greater Manchester MPs Hazel Blears and Beverley Hughes were like a “Westminster-based Northeners’ support group” who spent a lot of time together.
A spokesman Mr Burnham has been contacted for comment.