Politics
11 Pedro Pascal Roles He Played Before The Mandalorian And Grogu
Pedro Pascal, the man of the moment, returns to our screens this week in The Mandalorian and Grogu.
To many, it might seem like Pedro’s recent wave of success came somewhat out of nowhere – but it actually took years of bit parts and supporting roles before the star started booking huge, game-changing projects like Game Of Thrones, The Last Of Us and last year’s Marvel offering The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
In fact, the Chilean-American star began his career way back in 1996 and spent more than a decade in minor film and TV roles until his big breakthrough.
Here are just some of the lesser-known roles he played early on in his career, before he cemented his status as the internet’s favourite father figure…
Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1999)
One of Pedro’s earliest television roles came at the end of the 1990s, when he landed a small part in Buffy The Vampire Slayer.
He appeared briefly as a UC Sunnydale student in the season four episode The Freshman, colliding with Sarah Michelle Gellar’s Buffy on campus before being caught by vampires and, sadly, slayed.
Pedro revealed back in 2024 that this small role helped him out massively when he was still a young, struggling actor.
“My entry-level lasted about 15 years,” he shared after his win at the SAG Awards. “And we’re talking about not being able to see a doctor, getting sick, getting surgery, being able to pay my rent,”.
He continued: “I had less than $7 in my account and a residual from Buffy The Vampire Slayer showed up and saved the day, and literally is the reason I was able to stay in it and not give up.”
Sarah also posted a throwback photo of Pedro’s time on the show in 2024, captioned: “When Mother met Father.”
The Good Wife (2009)
Pedro has appeared in numerous American crime dramas over the years, including Law & Order and NYPD Blue, but his first multi-episode arc came in 2009, when he appeared in the first two seasons of The Good Wife.
He starred in six episodes as Nathan Landry, an arrogant assistant to the state’s attorney, which marked a rare antagonistic role for the usually-lovable actor.
The Adjustment Bureau (2011)
After starring in numerous short films, Pedro’s first high-profile feature-length role came in 2011 when he was cast in The Adjustment Bureau.
He makes a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance in the Matt Damon and Emily Blunt sci-fi thriller, playing a maître d’, and despite his limited screen time (his one line even ended up on the cutting room floor), the film’s Oscar-winning lead still had good memories of being on set with Pedro more than a decade later.
“I remember Emily and I went and sat down and this maître’d walked away, and they cut, and we both looked at each other, and Em goes, ‘That guy’s really fucking good’,” Matt told Howard Stern in January this year. “And I said, ‘Yeah, what the fuck? That guy was really good’.
“There was something just incredibly interesting, but real and natural about him. And years later, I found out it was Pedro Pascal.”
Graceland (2013)
The year before he joined the cast of Game Of Thrones, Pedro Pascal appeared in the first series of the law enforcement drama Graceland, playing an undercover cop who is assigned to investigate a senior agent in the FBI.
Unfortunately, like many of Pedro’s characters over the years, this one also met a violent end, and didn’t make it into the second season of the show, which only ran for three years before it was cancelled.
The Mentalist (2014)
Pedro followed up his role in season one of Graceland with a recurring part in seasons six and seven of The Mentalist.
He joined the procedural drama as Marcus Pike, an FBI agent who had a short-lived romance with Robin Tunney’s Teresa Lisbon before being written out of the series.
This appearance in The Mentalist aired just one week before Pedro made his debut in Game Of Thrones, a role which would change the course of his life and career.
The Great Wall (2016)
Jasin Boland/Legendary East/Kobal/Shutterstock
Pedro is now a regular face in movie blockbusters, which all started with 2016’s The Great Wall, in which he reunited with his former Adjustment Bureau co-star, Matt Damon.
The future Emmy nominee played a Spanish man who travels to 11th-century China with Matt’s character to steal gunpowder, before getting caught up in a war against mythical monsters.
Upon its release, The Great Wall was met with controversy for centring its white leads at the expense of its talented cast of Chinese actors, after which it massively underperformed at the box office.
Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017)
You may have (thankfully!) completely forgotten that the Taron Egerton-led James Bond pastiche Kingsman ever had a sequel, but it did.
Follow-up movie The Golden Circle brought back original cast members Colin Firth and Mark Strong, as well as introducing new additions played by Channing Tatum, Julianne Moore and, of course, Pedro Pascal.
In the sequel, Pedro played Jack Daniels, a lasso-whipping cowboy FBI agent who worked for the Kingman’s American counterpart, Statesman.
Despite unimpressed reviews from critics, Pedro has spoken fondly of his time making the film, especially when using his character’s weapon of choice.
“I’m telling you, I had a Catwoman moment.” Pedro told ComicBook.com while promoting the film in 2017. “It’s a different Catwoman [than co-star Halle Berry‘s portrayal]. But there was a Catwoman moment on set.”
He explained: “In one take, I had to crack the whip and hit a bag of dust. If I hit the bag of dust, it would help the shot, because it would have just [exploded], as if the floor was sort of like exploding with the sound of the crack.”
The Equalizer 2 (2018)
Glen Wilson Columbia/Sony/Kobal/Shutterstock
In The Equalizer 2, Pedro shared the screen with one of Hollywood’s most celebrated actors, Denzel Washington.
He played Dave York, ex-agency partner of Denzel’s character, who he thought was dead until he showed up out of the blue with news from their past.
Pedro spoke fondly of the “surreal” experience of working with a screen legend like Denzel, telling Den Of Geek: “Here I am working with one of the greats, and I was more nervous than I’ve ever been. And, consequently, [I was] more prepared than I had ever been.”
“And yet, once we started rolling, it felt like I was with a classmate,” he added.
If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)
Pedro appeared in one small but memorable scene in Barry Jenkins’ Oscar-nominated 2018 film, If Beale Street Could Talk.
Adapted from the 1974 James Baldwin novel of the same name, If Beale Street Could Talk tells the story of a pregnant woman in Harlem who fights to clear the name of the father of her unborn child, after he is falsely accused of rape.
Pedro was only on screen for three minutes, but his role was pivotal to the plot, as he portrayed a man who had information that helped free the lead, played by Stephen James, from jail.
His scene saw him sharing the screen with Regina King, whose powerful performance as a mother trying to find justice for her son earned her an Oscar the year after the film’s release.
Triple Frontier (2019)
Melinda Sue Gordon/Netflix/Kobal/Shutterstock
Triple Frontier featured an all-star cast that saw Pedro acting alongside Ben Affleck, Oscar Isaac, Charlie Hunnam and Garrett Hedlund as U.S. Army Delta Force operators.
Despite positive reviews and the film’s star power, the Netflix original has been curiously forgotten, after seemingly winding up lost in the platform’s algorithm.
The hidden gem of a thriller follows the team of special force operatives as they unite to plan a heist in a sparsely populated, multi-border area of South America.
Pedro’s performance as the pilot Catfish was praised by reviewers, many of whom named him as the stand-out of the film’s stacked cast.
The Bubble (2022)
Released in the wake of the Covid pandemic, The Bubble was a poorly-received and generally-ignored comedy from Judd Apatow, that even an all-star cast including Karen Gillan, John Lithgow and John Cena couldn’t save.
The Netflix satire followed the cast of a fictional Hollywood blockbuster who are forced to quarantine in an upmarket hotel in 2020.
Pedro played Dieter Bravo, a veteran actor with sex and drug addiction, allowing him to play against type and prove his comedy chops.
Despite the criticism for the movie itself, Pedro was still hailed as the best part of it by many critics.
The Mandalorian and Grogu is in cinemas now.
FOXBOROUGH, Massachusetts — Boston is bouncing and the Massachusetts governor wants to thank thousands of kilted Scottish soccer fans who have taken over the city between Scotland’s first match against Haiti last weekend and its second, against Morocco, today.
The tournament’s shock love affair is sparking delight in Gov. Maura Healey’s office as the supporters plow cash into the local economy, star in feel-good viral videos and drink copious quantities of Sam Adams Boston Lager.
Earlier this week, the governor — who’s seeking what stands to be an easy reelection this year — spoke with POLITICO about which of Massachusetts’ World Cup wins can be made permanent, including extended hours for bars and service along mass-transit networks.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Were you expecting this?
Oh, yeah, what do they say? No Scotland, no party? [Author’s note: This is, indeed, what they say.] I would say the Tartan Army’s reputation precedes them in the best of ways. So we knew that they would bring a ton of energy and joy and the noise. The bagpipes, the partying in our restaurants and bars, it’s just been great, and to think — it’s very warm here, of course — half of them are doing it in kilts. It’s really amazing to see.
What has stood out to you?
In just a matter of days, the Tartan Army has become part of the Massachusetts family. We have seen them become regulars at our local restaurants and our pubs. We’ve seen them take over Fenway Park. 5,000 fans marching with bagpipes into the games. We loved the viral videos of them trying hot dogs […] inside Fenway. The videos of them taking over the cruise ships in Boston Harbor. We even had a Boston police officer kicking a soccer ball with them at the fanfest. So it’s just been really wonderful for us in Massachusetts, and we’re thrilled to have them here.
Do you have plans to capitalize on this beyond the World Cup?
Given that Scotland-Haiti was our first match, we were really thrilled. Massachusetts has a huge Haitian population. And then, of course, a lot of people in Massachusetts have ties with Scotland because many, many families here have ancestors who came from Scotland. And I have to say, I think Scotland just set the tone from the day the fans got into town. There was concern leading up to the World Cup, you know, how’s this all gonna work? And the media was covering a lot about security and transportation, and all these things about what could go wrong. And as soon as the Scottish fans arrived, they just laid the whole vibe for the World Cup. It’s gonna be about joy, energy, fun and bringing people together from all around the world. And I really credit them with establishing the vibe for our World Cup experience right at the outset.
Have the ticket prices charged by FIFA had an impact on that?
Well, one thing that I was really determined to do was to make sure that we were able to secure tickets for young people here in Massachusetts, which we did. 1,100 tickets that we distributed through Boys and Girls Clubs, so the kids who otherwise wouldn’t have a chance to see the game, were able to see the game — and for free. We’ve tried as a state to help out where we can, making $10 million available to communities around Massachusetts to host watch parties, because we know not everybody can afford to go to the game.
And as the governor of a blue state, how were your interactions with the Trump administration on planning for the tournament?
Well, when it comes to public safety that is something that it’s so imperative that local, state and federal authorities work together on. We did around transportation funding, security funding, that’s the way it should be. There should be that kind of work and coordination.
At the local level, would you support either a pilot program or a permanent extension of later last call and public drinking districts after the end of July? And would you encourage the legislature to start working on a bill about this?
We wanted to do that to create a welcoming environment, and I know that extension is helping our restaurants and bars and helping local businesses, and helping fans enjoy this experience. I’m certainly open to making some things more permanent, and I think this gives us a great opportunity to pilot it right now and see how it goes.
Do you see it as a runway for allowing happy-hour discounts, which have been banned in Massachusetts for decades, to become legal again? Because you’ve previously expressed problems with the concept.
I expressed support for happy hour the other day. We’ll see, we’ll have more conversations with the legislature.
And in terms of the transport would you consider keeping extended service hours on the MBTA?
I’ve always been for extended service hours. For us, it’s just a matter of budgeting and the labor costs associated with that. Also, you need a little bit of downtime so that trains can get repaired and maintained. We extended hours well before the World Cup on weekends, and it’s certainly something that I’d like to see us do across the system. But again, it’s just a matter of what we can do in terms of budget. But so far, transportation has been working really well. Trains have been made available, and selling out, and people have really enjoyed that experience; it’s been super easy, you know, getting to and from the match.
I think some Scotland fans would maybe dispute that it was easy getting back from the [Haiti] match, but I guess it’s all relative when the stadium is far away from the city.
I know. You can only run so many trains at once. But, hey, they won, so …
I understand it’s a challenge to keep young people in state. Are these measures you approved for a summer of intense tourism part of a longer-term solution?
I think that they’re really important to making sure that people know that we’ve got a great culture here and a great vibe for young people. That’s why I’m building homes […] so we can look at housing costs. Massachusetts is a place where people come to study from all around the world, and it’s a place that’s filled with young people, filled with opportunity. We’ve got an innovative economy, and doing so much in life sciences and robotics and AI, and cutting-edge industries. And it’s a very safe state and safe city. We’ve got the best schools in the country, best health care in the country. We got a lot going for us. And we’ve got great sports teams, too. So it’s a great vibe for young people, and we’re working always to try to make sure the message is out there around the globe. This is a great place to come and study, and start a business or raise a family.
Lisa Kashinsky contributed to this report.
(Alamy)
2 min read
Labour MPs who remain loyal to Keir Starmer have told PoliticsHome they will force a leadership contest to stop an Andy Burnham coronation if Keir Starmer doesn’t stand.
The Prime Minister is expected to spend the weekend mulling his future after Burnham’s landslide victory in the Makerfield by-election on Thursday injected fresh momentum into his bid to replace Starmer in No 10 and triggered new calls for the PM to stand aside.
Over 100 Labour MPs have publicly called on Starmer to set out a resignation plan at the time of writing, and Burnham backers are hopeful that the PM will agree to an orderly and non-confrontational transition of power in the coming days.
Earlier today, Starmer insisted he would “fight” any challenge to his leadership.
Among Starmer loyalists, however, planning is underway for the event that the PM decides not to enter a leadership contest. Within this group, there is strong opposition to Burnham taking over as leader without being put through a contest.
Starmer loyalists would need 81 MPs to force a contest, with organisers telling PoliticsHome on Friday night that they could raise the numbers to do so.
“There is a sizeable number of MPs who will not just sit back and allow Andy to be crowned,” said one.
Another added: “There will be a candidate but only if Keir Starmer decides he won’t stand.”
Loyalist Labour MPs have told PoliticsHome that Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Darren Jones could be the candidate they unite around to trigger a contest.
Last month, PoliticsHome reported that Jones was believed by Labour MPs to be sounding out support for a potential future leadership bid.
MPs reluctant to get behind Burnham say they are unclear on where he stands on key policy issues and have deep concerns over suggestions that Ed Miliband could become chancellor.
They are also concerned about left-wing group Momentum’s involvement in Burnham’s by-election campaign, as well as former shadow chancellor and Jeremy Corbyn ally John McDonnell’s tearful reaction to the outgoing Manchester mayor’s victory.
While Starmer loyalists remain willing to fight the PM’s corner, the growing feeling within the party is that it is a matter of when, not if, he is replaced by Burnham.
The long-serving Labour MP Harriet Harman today told the Electoral Dysfunction podcast that Burnham would become prime minister, adding that the Parliamentary Labour Party “herd” wasn’t just moving against Starmer, it was “stampeding”.
Alan Johnson, the former Labour health secretary, who, like Harman, is a respected figure in the party, told LBC he would advise Starmer: “It’s over, Keir”.
The post What Makerfield means for Labour, Reform and Restore appeared first on spiked.
VANCOUVER — Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber joined Prime Minister Mark Carney on Friday to watch Canada’s thrashing of Qatar. Garber probably did not want Carney to enjoy the stadium experience too much.
BC Place is Major League Soccer’s most troublesome facility. The arena is old, was not designed with soccer in mind, and is owned by a government agency — the BC Pavilion Corporation, which also controls the Vancouver Convention Center — that forces the Vancouver Whitecaps to fight for dates on the calendar against concerts and other events.
“We want to be the ones that control our destiny, like every sports team does,” Garber told reporters Friday in Seattle.
The Whitecaps are now up for sale, and Garber is actively pushing British Columbia’s political establishment — including Premier David Eby and Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim — to find a solution can keep the team from decamping to Las Vegas. While the government has been willing to renegotiate its financial relationship with the team, a proposed new stadium would take “four-plus years” in construction, which Garber said was untenable.
“It unimaginable how long we’re going to be out of the stadium,” he told reporters Friday in Seattle. “They are very relevant club that doesn’t have a good business model, and you can’t be sustainable.”
Garber recounted he met with Eby while in Vancouver, and sat with Carney and Victor Montagliani — the head of regional soccer confederation CONCACAF and a close ally of the prime minister — during the match itself. Garber said he has placed a league official in Vancouver full-time to manage the negotiations with local officials over the Whitecaps’s future.
“We want to be the ones that control our destiny, like every sports team does,” said Garber. “It’s easier for business people to make decisions, a little harder for politicians.”
SEATTLE — Some American fans walking toward Lumen Field on Friday morning were playfully jeering their Australian peers whenever they spotted a telltale yellow jersey. But a major driver of the local economy offered a kinder greeting to the visiting team.
Cranes in view of the stadium gates have been outfitted with the Australian flag and a WELCOME message from the Northwest Seaport Alliance, which manages the ports of Seattle and Tacoma, along with dockworkers’ union ILWU Local 19.
The seaport alliance and the labor union representing its workforce are mounting a similar display throughout the World Cup, rotating flags out to reflect the pair of teams that will face off next in Seattle. But keeping the Australians happy is a more urgent cause for Seattle harbor interests than, say, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Qatar.
Australia is one of the ports’ top trading partners, with the 14th largest source of container volume at the Port of Seattle, but ranks much higher when it comes to the dollar value of goods that come from there. (New Zealand, for example, sends more volume to Seattle than Australia but it’s worth only half as much.)
Meat, including beef and lamb, and minerals comprise the biggest categories of goods that Australia ships to the United States, although some of the most valuable exports — gold and pharmaceuticals — are more likely to land at Sea-Tac airport than via the harbor.
The U.S. and Australia have had a free-trade pact since 2005, although President Donald Trump’s tariff regime threatens to disrupt some trade flows. Australia is currently pushing back on its inclusion on an American list of countries alleged to use forced labor in its supply chains, which the U.S. Trade Representative is using as the basis to impose a 12.5 percent tariff.
Politics
Politics Home | Reform Council Leader Under Investigation For Sharing Contract With Reform HQ
3 min read
The leader of Reform-run Lincolnshire is being investigated by his own council after claiming to have shared a local authority contract with senior party figure Zia Yusuf.
Sean Matthews, who became leader of Lincolnshire County Council in 2025, said he had shared an IT contract with Yusuf, who was Reform chairman at the time, soon after he was elected.
Speaking on the Reform Party podcast earlier this month, Matthews said: “A lot of the work that we have is contracted out, and some of those contracts are ridiculous. Some of them are 25-year contracts.”
He continued: “When I took over last year, there was a new IT contract waiting to be signed and…the contract was put in front of me, and it was an 11-year contract in IT, and you go, this is not something I’m about to sign.
“In fact, I sent it off to Zia Yusuf and said, ‘look, am I being crazy here, is this contract ok?’ He said ‘leave it with me, I’ll have a look at it’.”
Matthews went on to claim that Yusuf “had a look at it” but, in the meantime, he had looked through it himself and come to the conclusion that it was “a lot of money” and “a long time”.
The council leader said he had persuaded the company offering the contract to make some changes, introducing a no-break clause and “they saved us over the period of those seven years, over £20m”.
After Matthews appeared on the podcast, PoliticsHome understands that his comments were raised with the council. As a result, the case was referred to the Council’s Information Assurance Team to be reviewed.
Nigel Farage’s party went into the 2025 local elections pledging to cut council waste through what it described as its own ‘Doge’ (Department of Government Efficiency) unit.
Inspired by Elon Musk and the Donald Trump administration, and led at the time by Yusuf, the party said this cost-cutting drive would free up money for Reform-run local authorities to lower council taxes.
The plan ran into GDPR issues, with questions raised over what data Reform councillors were legally able to share with senior party figures. Reform-run councils have also been forced to raise council tax, though the party argues they are smaller increases than those implemented by other political parties.
A Reform UK spokesman said: “Reform has a wealth of businesslike experience and we support our council leaders wherever we can. We do that in the right way, with the right boundaries, and our councils have achieved huge savings and efficiencies.
“We will not take any pathetic lectures from bureaucrats or journalists who whinge if we don’t save money, then whinge if we take action to save money. Reform UK are proven to be delivering better value for taxpayers.”
Lincolnshire County Council did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
The best-selling newspaper in Sydney, Australia, is out with a pep talk for the country’s national team ahead of its match today against the United States:
Politics
Politics Home | Greens Will “Throw Everything” At Manchester Mayoral Election, Says Caroline Lucas
Lucas said that the party had made “the right decision” not to throw all of its resources at the Makerfield by-election (Alamy)
4 min read
Exclusive: The Greens “will be throwing everything” at the contest to replace Andy Burnham as Greater Manchester mayor, their former leader Caroline Lucas has said.
“I have to say that the foot is about to be on the pedal for the mayoral, of course, now in Manchester to replace Andy Burnham,” she said in an interview with The House magazine.
“The Greens definitely will be throwing everything at that, and I would absolutely support them in so doing, and will be up there to do what I can to help.”
Speaking to The House following Andy Burnham’s landslide victory in Makerfield, Lucas, who was the Green MP for Brighton Pavilion for 14 years, said Zack Polanski’s Greens had made “the right decision” not to run a full-throttle campaign there.
Responding to suggestions last month that the Greens would properly contest the by-election in Makerfield, Lucas posted on X, formerly known as Twitter: “I hope this isn’t true.
“There are times when it’s more important to put country before party. This is one of them. Burnham’s longstanding commitment to a fairer voting system could transform our democracy and counter [the] dire threat of a Reform UK government.”
Lucas, who was the party’s first MP, told The House that the Green candidate in Makerfield, Sarah Wakefield, “did a good job, and she did us proud, but it wasn’t the kind of campaign where the whole party was absolutely throwing all of our resources at it, and that was the right decision”.
Wakefield won just 308 votes (0.68 per cent of the vote share) after the party was widely seen to have counted itself out of the contest.
Burnham cruised to a comfortable victory, securing almost 55 per cent of the vote and winning more votes than all other candidates combined.
He must now resign as the Mayor of Greater Manchester as the law forbids him from continuing with that role while also being an MP.
The election to choose Burnham’s successor will take place on 30 July, and Lucas believes the contest will be less like Makerfield and closer to the Gorton and Denton by-election in February, when Green candidate Hannah Spencer unseated Labour.
“The Greens are out there to win as many seats as possible, and as I say, the next priority is the Manchester mayoral, and we think we’ve got a really good chance of winning that.
“We think that will be much more along the lines of Gorton and Denton than it was along the lines of Makerfield. I know Zack is going to be up there at the weekend getting ready to launch a campaign, so we’re taking it very seriously.”
Asked who she would like to see as the Green candidate in Greater Manchester, Lucas said that the party “have just such a wonderfully broad now set of really qualified, excellent candidates that I just want to see who’s putting their name in the ring”.
“I haven’t seen the full list yet, so I don’t doubt that we’ll come up with a really good person.”
The leader of the Green group on Trafford Council, Geraldine Coggins, is expected to be the party’s candidate, The New Statesman reported on Friday.
Commenting on the idea that the Greens could step aside for Labour in the mayoral election, Lucas said: “We certainly won’t be doing that.”
The election to choose Burnham’s replacement will use a more proportional voting system than first-past-the-post, in which voters express a first and second choice. If no candidate secures 50 per cent of the votes after the first round, then the top two candidates will be given the second preference votes from the defeated candidates.
A Green Party spokesperson said: “The Greens will be campaigning hard to win the by-election for the Greater Manchester Mayoralty and, as we showed in the Gorton and Denton by-election and local elections in the area, it is going to be a clear Greens vs Reform race in this election.”
The House magazine’s full interview with Caroline Lucas will be published in print and online in June.
19 June 2026. Andy Burnham speaks to supporters after the Makerfield by-election in Ashton in Makerfield. (Alamy)
3 min read
Andy Burnham has told Labour it is the party’s “last chance to change” in a speech following his landslide victory at the Makerfield by-election.
“It is our last chance to change, but we’re going to take it, aren’t we? We are going to take that opportunity, and we are going to lay out a new path for Britain,” said Burnham, who secured his return to the House of Commons by winning over 50 per cent of the vote on Thursday.
“We have an opportunity to turn the tide to make the country feel like it’s working again, to make people see that politics can make a positive difference, to make people feel hope again.”
Burnham, who must now resign as Greater Manchester mayor to take up his role as MP, comfortably defeated his closest rival, the Reform UK candidate Rob Kenyon, by 20 percentage points.
The by-election in the northwest of England has widely been described as one of the most consequential in British political history, with Burnham now expected to launch a bid to replace Keir Starmer as prime minister.
PoliticsHome reported on Friday that he is expected to meet with Labour MPs in Westminster on Monday as he prepares his push to enter No 10.
Starmer had today insisted he would fight any leadership contest, warning that he would not simply “walk away” after being elected nearly two years ago.
In a speech to supporters, Burnham called for an economy that “works for everybody” and the end of “trickle-down economics”, saying he wanted to see the renationalisation of key industries and the use of public procurement to reindustrialise Britain.
“You have to respond to what people here are saying. You have to do something to make life more affordable, to put more money in people’s pockets, to give people more breathing space again, so that they can have a better life.
“That’s what people were saying, and we must respond to that.
“We need an economy that works for everybody, not a few in far-off places from here, but an economy that works for people right here.”
He continued: “We do need to bring down water bills, energy bills, rail fares, just as we brought down bus fares in Greater Manchester to make life more affordable for people.”
The former health secretary said he would apply a “Makerfield test” and that if policies did not work for his constituency, they could not work at all.
He called for an education system less “dominated by the university route”, and on immigration vowed to bring an end to “HMO Britain”, whereby communities are not given a proper say over asylum accommodation in their areas.
“It’s not fair that they think that they can just operate like that and not hear the call of people here, the decent people here who always will do the right thing, the compassionate thing, but not when it’s unfair in terms of the way places like this are treated.”
So that’s it. Populism has peaked. It had its moment in the sun but now it lies gasping for breath on the battlefield of Makerfield, vanquished by the King of the North and his trusty sword of Manchesterism. That, at least, is the tenor of the Andy Burnham fangirling that’s trying to pass itself off as political commentary this morning. From Sky to the BBC to the liberal press, reporters are failing miserably to hide their partisan smirks over Burnham’s win and Reform UK’s defeat. ‘Normalcy’s back’, you can almost hear them say.
It’s a masterclass in wishful thinking. Yes, Burnham won the by-election emphatically. Fair play. He got just shy of 55 per cent of the vote, higher than even the giddiest polls predicted. He increased Labour’s vote share in Makerfield by almost 10 per cent, which feels miraculous in the Starmer era where ‘Labour’ has become a byword for crap, robotic politics. Starmer is toast now: the size of Burnham’s win will turbo-charge his plot to clear Sir Keir out of Downing Street.
And yes, Reform’s result was not great. Plumber turned politician Robert Kenyon — who I interviewed for spiked last week — won 35 per cent of the vote. A total of 15,696 people voted for him, against the 24,927 who went for Burnham. That might be an almost three per cent hike on Reform’s performance in the General Election here in 2024. But as Reform leader Nigel Farage candidly said this morning, they were hoping for 18,000 votes.
Yet reports about the death of populism are greatly exaggerated. To extrapolate from Makerfield to the entire nation is to engage in wilful self-delusion. It is to overlook all the unique factors at play in this electoral clash.
First there’s the Burnham factor. Yes, the ‘King of the North’ stuff is bollocks, more likely to be spouted by the tweeting classes of SW1 than by your average Mancunian who’ll be well aware of Burnham’s failings on the rape-gang scandal and his past guzzlings from the Kool-Aid of wokeness (he thought a woman could have a penis until about five minutes ago). Yet there’s no denying the northern star cachet of the Manchester mayor. Who’s Labour going to replicate that with elsewhere in the country? Rachel ‘rictus grin’ Reeves? Ed Millipede?
More importantly, there was the ‘Kick Out Keir’ factor. King Andy was gifted Makerfield, essentially, precisely so that he could challenge Starmer for the leadership of Labour and of Britain. This bestowed on the people of Makerfield an extraordinary power over the destiny of the nation — in voting Burnham they could expel from office our flailing, spine-free PM. That’s pretty much unprecedented in the history of British by-elections. It’s not repeatable anywhere else.
Then there was all the tactical machinations of those who hate Reform. For me, the most staggering results from Makerfield were not Burnham’s or Kenyon’s. They were the Lib Dems’ — which got just 0.36 per cent of the vote — and the Greens’ — who got 0.68 per cent. Just 163 people voted Lib Dem, an almost seven per cent drop in their vote share. It’s not hard to figure out what’s going on. It’s not that these parties became toxically unpopular overnight — I wish. It’s that the largely middle-class / public-sector folk who would normally vote for them leant their votes to Labour. Why? To stop Reform.
As the Financial Times found, tactics were key to the Burnham surge. The Lib Dems and the Greens tacitly agreed not to ‘campaign wholeheartedly in the by-election’. One public-sector worker told the FT that they ‘don’t want Reform to get in’, mostly because of ‘their views on immigration’. How striking that the Greens pose as an insurgent party sticking it to The Man, yet as soon as the prospect of a working-class revolt against the uniparty raises its snarling head, they park their am-dram faux-radicalism and do their craven duty to sustain the status quo.
Now that is replicable. In fact, we’ve seen it in other by-elections: the clubbing together of middle-class voters into a Stop Reform lobby designed to frustrate the working-class thirst for change. Reform needs to factor this into its strategising: how to outflank these tactical populism thwarters. Yet far from suggesting populism is on its last legs, the rise of these anti-Reform factions confirms it remains the most dazzling threat to business as usual. Polite society’s very fear of Reform is all the proof we need that populism is alive and well and dangerous.
Then there’s the funniest result of all: Restore’s 6.8 per cent. Restore’s leader, Rupert Lowe, and the Mosleyite geeks who advise him were all over the internet, where they live, yapping about a quake in Makerfield. Some were predicting 20+ per cent for Restore. This, kids, is the danger of internet brain. These perma-online tossers thought that just because they get off on memes of Lowe in a suit of armour saying ‘You’re getting deported’ that the rest of the country would too. They forgot people have jobs. They’re busy.
In the end, Restore did even worse than the British National Party did in 2010, when it won 7.4 percent in Makerfield. They’re so over. They’ve been exposed as a gaggle of spectrum-dwelling meme makers who had the gall to call themselves a party. Some of them clearly thought their rape gang ‘inquiry’ would boost their vote. Deploying one of the worst postwar atrocities as basically an election leaflet was repulsive beyond belief. The working classes will not take kindly to the weaponisation of their daughters’ suffering for clicks and vibes.
Anyone who thinks Burnham will resuscitate Labour and put down the ‘populist menace’ is in for the rudest awakening. All the questions raised by the working classes’ electoral revolts — on sovereignty, borders, immigration, identity — remain unanswered. The days when a ‘king’ could placate the restive masses are long gone.
Brendan O’Neill is spiked’s chief political writer and host of the spiked podcast, The Brendan O’Neill Show. Subscribe to the podcast here. His latest book – After the Pogrom: 7 October, Israel and the Crisis of Civilisation – is available to order on Amazon UK and Amazon US now. And find Brendan on Instagram: @burntoakboy.
Sonic Labs Founders Including Andre Cronje Quit Board as New CEO Pledges to Get '1% Better' Daily
Unhinged Comedy You’ve Never Heard Of Is A Compulsive, Soul Searching, Supernatural Trip
Bedford train crash leaves one dead and several injured as major incident declared
-
Business5 days agoNo Jackpot Winner as $257 Million Prize Rolls Over to $269 Million Monday Draw
-
Crypto World5 days agoZimbabwe Requires Crypto Businesses to Register Annually Under New FIU Regulations
-
Crypto World7 days agoBitget enters Argentina’s regulated crypto market through PSAV registration
-
Tech7 days agoNanoClaw integrates JFrog registries to secure AI agent downloads
-
Entertainment5 days agoMatt Damon’s Viral Sci-Fi Thriller Has Taken Over HBO Max
-
Business5 days agoAnthropic staff to meet White House officials next week, Axios reports
-
Tech5 days agoAs AI companies race to go public, who else is along for the ride?
-
Crypto World5 days agoBitcoin could crash to $48,000, if this historical pattern is triggered
-
Politics5 days ago“Israel’s” ban on ICRC visits ruled illegal, but Knesset moves to stop them permanently
-
NewsBeat5 days agoWarning of disruption as Cardiff Crossrail works to start
-
News Videos5 days agoFinancial Accounting | Last Day Revision Strategy and Booster | CMA Inter – June 2026
-
NewsBeat5 days agowhat doctors are seeing in ebike crashes
-
NewsBeat5 days agoTributes to former deputy head teacher at Cambridge school among death and funeral notices
-
Entertainment6 days agoDeion Sanders Shares Powerful Post After Viral Advice To Deiondra
-
Entertainment5 days agoKate Middleton Glare Goes Viral After Kids Booed At Royal Event
-
Crypto World5 days agoXRP ETFs Outperform As Bitcoin And Ethereum Funds Extend Outflow Trend
-
Crypto World5 days agoMarket Preview: SpaceX (SPCX) IPO Record, Federal Reserve Meeting, and Iran Nuclear Agreement
-
Business5 days agoInvesco Quality Income Fund Q1 2026 Commentary
-
Tech5 days agoOver 400 Arch Linux packages compromised to push rootkit, infostealer
-
Entertainment7 days ago44 Years Later, This Is the Greatest Star Trek Quote in Sci-Fi History
You must be logged in to post a comment Login