Speech of the Month, June 2026 - Andy Burnham

Remember how the media mocked Andy Burnham last October when he didn't call for a change of Labour leadership at party conference? Well, they're not mocking him now!

After pulling off the greatest political coup of modern times, he's set to go from Manchester Mayor to MP for Ashton-in-Makerfield to Prime Minister all within a month.

So, given that no other Labour MP seems to want to challenge him for the top job, he decided to set out his economic plan for government in… Manchester. And, unusually, the British media didn't have a problem trundling up on the West Coast Main Line to hear it.

The speech was incredibly well received by those in the room. If you've yet to watch it, do…

Here's what we can all take away from Burnham's address:

The power of a warm and witty intro

He opened by thanking everyone in the room who'd had his back during his time as Manchester Mayor and during his historic by-election victory. It was well received. It sounded heartfelt.

Then came the humour: a mention of his "Manchester clothes" and a joke about his short shorts possibly flouting decency laws. He was, at turns, self-effacing and topical. The audience loved it.

Making 'em laugh at the start of a speech is oratory gold. If you're nervous about it, don't force it — but if deep down you know you can do humour, and your friends would describe you as funny, don't shy away from it. It sets a speaker up nicely.

He chose an unusual but appropriate venue

Rather than booking the Midland Hotel for the conference, he chose the People's History Museum instead. This suited the theme of his speech: that people then, like people now, weren't served by a British state that had their interests at heart — but they chose to do something about it. That's what Burnham wants us to do now.

It was the perfect choice of venue, and for the London media elite, it would have had a surprise value too. I appreciate that picking your venue when you give a presentation usually isn't within your gift — but if it is, consider one that has a link to your key message.

He's a natural emphasiser

Starmer had a very nasal voice; Burnham has a mouth voice — and what a relief it is.

Where we place our voice — the resonator that dominates — is, a lot of the time, outside of our control. People from historically smelly areas tend to have nasal accents, because their ancestors didn't want to breathe in, whereas people from historically noisy places (Burnham's hometown - Newton Le Willows - was a big locomotive manufacturer) had to over-articulate to help with lip-reading. People who today come from historically noisy towns still over-articulate slightly (muscle memory), and this also means they emphasise well and naturally.

From "I will build" to "sound finances" to that thud on "ruinous," he's great at making key words jump out. This is something we should all rehearse doing when speaking to large audiences. To skip emphasis is to miss a golden persuasion trick.

The big reveal

Number 10 – North! We learned that No.10 will open another office in Manchester, whose purpose is to spearhead growth, through devolution, in the regions.

There was a big reaction to this in the room. However, rather than following Burnham's schtick about reindustrialisation and regeneration, I found myself wondering whether the Labour Party would need to find a vacant address in Manchester that's already a "Number 10."

But the point stands: a big, surprising announcement always brings excitement to a speech. So save any exciting news you have, if you can, for your presentations.

A satisfying recall

As Burnham wound up his speech, he said: "This brings me back to where I started, and the stories told in this building of how ordinary people changed a British state not built with them in mind. Our modern challenge is exactly the same…"

Wherever possible, reiterate the theme of your intro in your ending. Audiences find it satisfying, and it's so easy to do.

The outro zinger — almost

To close, Burnham fused the two main themes of his talk — growth and hope — into one outro line: "Imagine good growth in every postcode and hope in every heart." Economically done, nice repetition of "every," and a good balance of the tangible (growth) with the emotional (hope). The shame is that he stumbled on the word "hope" as he delivered it. People still knew what he meant, and knew it was the end line, so they applauded — but once the applause had died down, Burnham decided to repeat the line cleanly.

Now and again, we all fluff the important line. If you do, simply do as he did: pause, and say it again.

If you'd like help with intros and outros, or if you feel your emphasis is a little too faint, get in touch.