The Prime Minister in waiting has split the UK in two, according to our new insights report.

Andy Burnham in London is something abstract, like a strategy. Outside the capital, he’s a human who generates emotional responses.

There are currently two Andy Burnhams and both are endlessly dissected as he prepares to lead the country. London analyses; the rest of the UK feels.

Our 87% report - named after the percentage of the population that live outside London - shows how the UK processes leadership, identity and trust.

Analysis of 5,653 mentions of Andy Burnham across X, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok over a two-week period reveals the dominant tone in London is analytical and strategy-first - compared to emotional and identity driven away from the M25 boundaries.

Online conversation in the capital clusters around neutral analysis. However, the regional discourse mainly focuses on strong feelings.

Capital questions

Repeatedly and throughout our dataset, Burnham appears as a question with a London audience. Will he challenge Starmer? What does this mean for Labour?

They don’t know what to make of him or how it will impact them – only that he’s coming.

Outside the M25, the tone is very different. Campaign-driven posts by those close to Burnham use language such as ‘walking the streets’, ‘meeting constituents', ‘eye to eye’, ‘local’, ‘one of us’. Repeatedly, he is positioned as ‘champion of the North’.

It poses the question about who do we identify with most? Who gives off the best vibes?

Often it’s only when a candidate passes those tests that people really want to know about policies.

Burnham just happens to sit on that fault line, and his success in the biggest job in the country will hinge on how well he navigates across such tricky terrain.

Unlock the regions

If brands want national relevance, they need to cross the same fault line to shift from analytical communication to emotionally intelligent, community‑aware storytelling.

Headquartered in Manchester, with a London office, we super-charge our clients with campaigns that resonate with the 87% and unlock the regions.

We worked with case studies to secure a three-minute feature on Channel 4 News about the Bread and Butter Thing (TBBT), a Manchester-based food club which supports 100,000 working families across more than 130 UK sites.

We hooked our pitch on inflation hitting the highest rate in 18 months and arranged for the film crew and journalist to visit the site to interview members and the charity’s founder to raise awareness of their plight.

The 87% aren’t just a bigger audience - they’re a more responsive one.

Read our full report here.

Check out our other insights