Andy Burnham mugs sold out in hours, but are his plans for Britain everyone's cup of tea?

Conference atmosphere and merchandise

The slogan for this year’s Labour Party Conference is ‘Hope Again’. It greets delegates as they walk into the main venue by the Liverpool docks, it’s plastered on the walls, and on the red banners hanging from the main conference halls. It was even on the white mugs with Andy Burnham ’s face.

Perhaps people are in dire need of hope, because the Burnham mugs were sold out within hours of the conference kicking off on Sunday. The sales assistant at the stall selling the merchandise said there were about 80 of them. All gone by teatime though.

At least there was plenty of Harold Wilson merch left. It’s 60 years since Labour won an election with the second largest majority in its history. A record cover with Wilson’s face featured his ‘greatest hits’, including the creation of the Open University, the Equal Pay Act, Race Relations Act.

At last year’s conference, Burnham cast a shadow as rumours were swirling that he was going to oust the then prime minister Keir Starmer. Naturally, he denied it, but we know what has happened since. How things have changed in the last 12 months.

Mr Burnham’s personality is almost bigger than Labour. One stall was selling Burnham stickers. There was also a giant cardboard cut-out of the Prime Minister made up to be the King of the North.

At one stall, Head North was given pride of place. The book was co-written by Mr Burnham and his friend Steve Rotherham, the metro mayor of Liverpool. Anyone who wants to know what the prime minister is planning in government should read it.

“It’s supposed to be the Bible!” one woman told her companion, when he admitted that he hadn’t read it. This year, according to delegates, there was a lot more energy. So how do people feel about the new PM?

Views on leadership and party direction

“He’s not been tested yet, it’s been all vibes for far,” said one party faithful. “I suppose he was tested in New York when he met Donald Trump and that went well. But the bar is so low, it fell a long time ago in terms of leadership. Any government that doesn’t embarrass itself has done well. Right now I’d say we’ve gone from minus two to neutral. Neutral is the new normal.”

And how did he feel about Keir Starmer? “S**t!” he said, pulling a face. “You have to be able to tell a story from the outset. Starmer’s leadership didn’t have a story or natural place in the party.”

Now, he said, people feel as though there’s a story to tell – something Keir Starmer was apparently lacking. “Blair had a story. Brown had a story. And whether you like Burnham or you dislike him, he’s told a story about himself and what his vision is for Britain. Keir Starmer didn’t have that.”

This may be the key reason why Starmer failed. “Starmer spent half his time trying to fight the left in the party rather than unite,” said Shaban Mohammed, a councillor in Newham, London.

“We’re at last able to move on from winning, to actually governing,” said Neil Narva, a former councillor. He refused to be drawn into criticism of Starmer, but said he had witnessed how well Mr Burnham was being received by voters. A recent poll showed Labour would be the largest party in a hung parliament with 250 seats, 76 short of a majority.

“I think he’s learned a lot from his time away from Westminster,” Narva continued. “Becoming mayor in Britain’s second city was the worst thing for him.”

That’s the other thing. Manchester featured heavily at the conference – brave given the rivalry with Liverpool. There were about half a dozen talks dedicated to the city and ‘Manchesterism’ (though hardly anyone I asked seemed to know what, exactly, Manchesterism is ), the region's trend-bucking growth, and so forth.

My colleagues observed that very few of the talks actually had anything to do with Manchester itself. Perhaps a bit of manc-bait to lure the crowds? If Burnham was the star last year, there were other contenders this year.

Hiroshi Suzuki, the Japanese ambassador to the UK, was constantly stopped and asked for selfies. Mr Suzuki has a bit of a cult following, thanks to his embrace of all things British. This week, he posted footage of him trying Scouse cuisine, declaring it ‘boss scran!’

Earlier this month, the ambassador met with Greater Manchester mayor Bev Craig for Manchester Japan Day. Incidentally, Manchester is officially twinned with the Japanese city of Osaka.

The other famous face was Tony Adams. The former Arsenal captain was there in his capacity as patron of The Forward Trust, a charity that helps people deal with addiction. ‘Mr Arsenal’ refused to say which party he supports, though he admitted his dad used to be a Labour man.

“Whichever party [makes] addiction a priority, I will vote for them!” he added.

Foreign policy and economic challenges

The big elephant in the room seemed to be the war in Gaza, which followed the terrorist attack in Israel on October 7. Labour’s stance towards Palestine cost the party enormous support, with opponents like the Greens taking up some of those votes.

Some delegates mentioned Starmer’s controversial comments in a 2023 interview, where he claimed Israel had the ‘right’ to cut Gaza’s food and water supply. On Sunday, as the conference kicked off, more than 250 protesters sat outside the venue, with many holding banners reading: “I support Palestine Action.”

Scores of police officers stood by before moving in to start making arrests, warning protesters they were illegally holding signs supporting a proscribed organisation. More than 80 were eventually arrested including 94-year-old Margaret Owen, who was seen being carried out by two police officers.

At the conference, Ed Miliband said the actions of the Israeli government were a ‘stain on the conscience of the world’. The Foreign Secretary didn’t pull any punches, adding: This party will always recognise the threats Israel faces and stand emphatically against those who seek its destruction.

“But this cannot justify what] the [Benjamin] Netanyahu government has inflicted in Gaza and the West Bank.” The party, under Burnham’s leadership, had ‘reset our approach’, said Mr Miliband, who went on to call out the war crimes in Gaza as well as the ‘ethnic cleansing’ by ‘settler terrorists’.

But for some activists and members, Labour’s stance on Israel-Palestine was merely a ‘step in the right direction’, with some saying they could go ‘much further’. Miliband also said Britain’s future lies in a ‘stronger, deeper partnership’ with the European Union , to some cheers from the crowd.

Is that a sign of things to come? As well as trying to solve the crises in the Middle East, Labour also needs to prove that it’s not just a party of welfare and spending money.

John Healey said his first duty on his first day as chancellor was fiscal discipline because it ‘underpins every promise this government makes’. While the new Burnham government is trying to strike a more optimistic tone (hope again!) Britain faces a tricky economic situation.

The chancellor pointed out that ‘the money New Labour had in the 90s is simply not there now’. It may have been a warning ahead of next month’s Budget. Perhaps that’s why it took him 23 minutes before he finally got round to making his first policy announcements.

He took the audience on a nostalgic tour of the now defunct coal pits of the north, telling us all that he had a miner’s lamp on a shelf at home. “They didn’t just use their lamps to light their own steps, they used them to help others,” said Mr Healey.

“A symbol of hope, no matter what the darkness, there’s always light at the end of the tunnel.” What was the light?

Mayors will be given £100m to fund a new apprenticeships scheme. “The best thing we can offer a young person isn’t a benefit payment, it’s a first job with training and a wage,” the chancellor said.

He would also commit £6bn for British shipyards, and new docks for new submarines will be built, to prove to voters that Labour can also be a party of defence. Mr Healey also dubbed Nigel Farage as 'Liz Truss with a Bitcoin account', a reference to Reform’s controversial donations. He also made a dig about Truss’s disastrous mini budget.

Whatever happened to ‘problem solving not point scoring’? Each prime minister wants to leave a legacy. For Mr Burnham’s it’s all about social care.

On Sunday, he told BBC ’s Laura Kuenssberg that he wants to create a free, universal service. The plans would be included in Labour’s next manifesto, meaning changes won’t be introduced before the next general election.

“I’m going to rip the plaster off, if I can put it that way, because someone has to do it,” he said. Mr Burnham didn’t give details about how the new system would be funded, but some have suggested the government could scrap the state pension triple lock.

But can he do that all without calling an election? Unsurprisingly, most members were against an early election, saying the prime minister should only do it when he has a record to show in office. For now, at least, the government is asking voters to believe in hope again.