17 November
Dear Andy Burnham,
King of the North! King of the North! King of the North!
As an avid fan of Game of Thrones, this is a refrain I know too well.
Jon Snow. A swordsman and warrior. A man you could trust to do the right thing with conviction.
A man who continuously had the interests of his people at heart and would protect them at all costs.
A man with honour and courage, decency and fight (I’ll leave out the part where he stabs Daenereys Targaryen to death. It was a fictional, historical epic after all!).
When I first saw the red tops calling you King of the North, I was bemused. Yes, you are Mayor of Greater Manchester, but surely you would focus on your region, as everybody elected to office for a certain area would do.
However, when you fought for more financial help for a heavily covid-hit Manchester in October 2021, you fought for all of us in the North. As the Mayor, you probably hold the most political sway in the North of England, an area of the country which has far more neglect and less focus than many areas in the South of England, specifically the South East.
By doing this, you showed us we shouldn’t feel inferior. That our voices should be heard loudly by a Westminster-based elite, far removed from the daily lives of many people in our Northern regions. That we should always fight for a fairer deal.
Back to Game of Thrones. Maybe being Mayor of one of the most populated regions may take up some of your time, but hopefully you watched the show. There was clamour for Jon Show to fight for the Iron Throne, as many people felt the wheel NEEDED to break, for a change, for a new perspective (again, fictional historical epic. What the writers did with Daenereys was awful!).
You’re working class. You understand the nature and instincts of ordinary, everyday people, and you’ve grown up in such an environment where your everyday was full of ordinary, everyday people. I’m working class, and I feel life is a struggle for many of us in this country.
I’m a fellow Everton fan (one area of your life I’ll feel your full anguish. Why do we support them again?), and I remember when you went to Anfield Stadium in 2009 as a government minister, facing an angry crowd deeply unhappy with the lack of development for a new Hillsborough inquiry. You took these feelings away with you, and you became the leading voice at Westminster for fresh inquiry into that tragic day.
You acted on what you saw and what you felt. That’s what a great leader does.
We haven’t had a Labour leader (the traditional heartlands of Labour support) or Prime Monster from the North in over 50 years. I’m hoping you decide to fight for the leadership and then fight to be Prime Minster. I truly believe you’ll fight the cause for greater living standards and aspirations for working class people all over the country, regardless of race, sex and religion.
I’m hoping one day, you’ll decide to leave Winterfell, and take a chance in King’s Landing (I’m really sorry if you haven’t watched Game of Thrones. Some of this letter may make less sense than the last season of the show itself) and have the chance to build a better life for all.
Just one thing though. Keep your hair as it is. I don’t think you can get away with Jon Snow’s silky curls.
King of the North! King of the North! King of the North!
Francis Clarke
Francis Clarke