UK's New PM Andy Burnham Studies Trump's Playbook Despite Opposing Populism

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LONDON — Andy Burnham’s political success depends on his ability to turn Britain away from the wave of nationalist populism that gave the world Donald Trump.

That has not stopped the U.K.’s incoming prime minister from studying the president’s rise, and — deliberately or not — embracing some of his methods for the political battles with the British right that lie ahead.

“Trump is very unpopular in Britain,” said Luke Tryl, executive director at More in Common U.K., a think-tank and polling agency. “But even people who really don’t like him will say, at least he does what he says he’ll do.” Just being seen to be active in this way is something Burnham “can learn” from insurgent populists like Trump, Ttyl added.

Burnham, the new leader of the center-left Labour Party, takes over as U.K. prime minister on Monday. He has been catapulted into power by his colleagues, who fear being wiped out at the next general election after months of missteps and scandals under outgoing premier Keir Starmer.

The far-right populist Reform UK party — founded five years ago and led by Trump ally Nigel Farage — has stormed the board in recent elections across the country, shattering Labour’s traditional strongholds and leading opinion polls nationally for more than a year.

Labour MPs hope Burnham can be the fresh-faced outsider to revive the party’s wilting relationship with the increasingly cynical voters it has lost. He has been clear for years about the party’s task: If Labour fails, British politics, he says, are in danger of following the United States and electing the most right-wing government it has ever seen.

Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage, whos party has stormed the polls, speaks on the second day of the inaugural CPAC Great Britain summit in London on July 17, 2026. | Carl Court/Getty Images

“Whether we like it or not, Donald Trump and Nigel Farage have been effective in connecting with people who feel politicians have neglected the place where they live,” Burnham wrote with his co-author Steve Rotheram in their 2024 book “Head North.” In order to deliver for millions of working-class voters, they wrote, Labour must “take the fight to the radical Right on the very turf that they claim to hold.”

That starts with channeling the anger of the rejected outsider. There are signs that what drives both Trump and Burnham is a personal resentment at the political elites who once sneered at them — and a desire to upend the old hierarchy of snobs.

Many commentators have spoken of how the president’s experience suffering the scorn of America’s wealthy and powerful elites in his previous role as a real estate mogul and celebrity motivated his political mission. Critically, Trump’s ability to convey that sense of being dismissed by the establishment resonated with voters who feel cast aside by the same elites.

Burnham, if anything, has been even more direct than Trump about his own hang-ups. In “Head North,” Burnham, who was Greater Manchester mayor at the time, and Rotheram, the Liverpool mayor, described being treated like “second-class citizens” in their previous roles as MPs by the elitist politicians in London: “We want you to know how it felt to hear those sneering voices in the corridors of power.”

In this passage of their book, Burnham and Rotheram were addressing their grandchildren. Many voters in their northern homelands already know what it feels like to be ignored by the center.

Burnham never misses the chance to portray himself as an outsider from the working-class former industrial areas in the North of England, and his positioning can work, according to analysts. With his regional accent, he seems “authentic” and not like a member of the London establishment to many voters who backed Labour two years ago but have since walked away, said political consultant Deborah Mattinson, who was the party’s director of strategy before the 2024 election.

People react as a person holds a cardboard cutout featuring an image of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has been effective communicating with those who feel mainstream politics has failed them, outside Windsor Castle on September 16, 2025. | Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images

Mattinson has been working on new polling and focus groups for the Progressive Policy Institute, a Washington-based think tank. “The bottom line is that people are very angry and very impatient,” she said. “These critical working-class voters are even more impatient for change — and they are cynical about the ability of politicians to deliver it.”

Talking to everyone, all the time

Farage dominates the coverage of politics in the British press while Trump’s hyperactive social media use now often sets the news agenda around the world.

Burnham doesn’t have the same reach, but has proven comfortable using direct channels to connect with his public. He regularly posts selfie videos that are often light-hearted and chatty in style, as he presents an informal image designed to show voters he is just like them.

“Trump and Farage are just constantly communicating with people,” said Tryl from More in Common. “They just speak directly. I actually think being multi-channel in your approach — making use of X, TikTok, Instagram and all of those channels — is really important for reaching people.”

If Burnham does manage to connect with voters, what does he want to say?

So far, policy details are sketchy. But his blueprint for Britain, as proposed in “Head North” at least, contains at its heart a radical transfer of power out of London and to communities and regions around the country. Burnham believes replicating the way he ran Manchester for nine years as mayor can transform the U.K. and bring hope to forgotten communities.

Mattinson and Tryl both found evidence that the devolution agenda could be appealing to voters, who feel their areas have been neglected by London.

But they were equally sure that he must not lose sight of the overwhelming priority for the public: Reducing the cost of living. For many families, daily expenses have risen to unsustainable levels, with inflation racing in the years since pandemic lockdowns and wages failing to keep up.

In the U.S., Trump has paid a political price for the impact of the Iran war on the cost of living at home. Burnham would do well to take note: It is by far the biggest issue for British voters, according to numerous polls and focus groups, and fuels a frustration that frequently boils over into anger among voters who backed Starmer in 2024 in the hope he would improve their lives.

“There is a real appetite to see action very quickly within the first six months of his premiership, particularly on the cost of living,” said Tryl. Devolution might play well with voters but Burnham “has to relate it back to the bread and butter issues,” added Mattinson.

Burnham’s tiny window

Voters are increasingly ready to embrace radicalism. POLITICO’s focus group in Makerfield, Burnham’s new parliamentary constituency, conducted by Public First last month found voters were cynical about the ability of any politician to improve their lives.

Worse than that, there’s almost a nihilistic instinct creeping in.

A member of staff takes down England flags at No. 10 Downing Street in London on July 19, 2026 ahead of Andy Burnham taking over as prime minister. | Ryan Jenkinson/Getty Images

More in Common regularly asks poll respondents whether they think Britain’s institutions should be preserved and improved, or instead left to burn. “Currently we still have a majority in the ‘preserve and improve’ — 60 percent,” Tryl told an audience in Westminster last week. “But 40 percent are in the ‘just let them all burn’ group, which I think is quite a sobering statistic.”

While Trump himself is not popular, many focus group participants approve of the fact that he at least seems to get things done and to do what he says he will do, regardless of the opposition he encounters. “People have a real craving for a leader with strength,” Mattinson added.

Burnham has “the most minuscule of windows” to convince Labour’s lost supporters to give the party another chance, Mattinson said. “He is going to have to burst onto the stage and look like a new government and look like a different government,” she said.

Burnham has said he wants a more consensual style of politics, working with rival parties on the left and the right to find solutions, instead of scoring political points. But the biggest risk for him seems to be that impatient voters won’t be prepared to wait for the culture to shift before seeing results.

Perhaps Burnham has already learned from Trump that he needs to make an instant impact when he takes over, in the way the president did at the start of his second term this year. “I am ready,” Burnham said when he formally took over as Labour leader on Friday. “I have a plan.”