Meet Andy Burnham’s man ‘in the shadows’

Dear Millers – today’s edition is about the most important person in Greater Manchester that you (probably) haven’t heard of: Andy Burnham’s closest advisor and praetorian guard for 16 years, Kevin Lee. 

In one person’s telling, Lee is a Lady Macbeth figure, urging Burnham on when his nerve is faltering and passing him the dagger. “Andy must wake up sometimes and think ‘Do I really want to be doing this? Do I really want the top job?’ And Kevin must be saying ‘Of course you do Andy’”. 

According to another former colleague of both men, Lee is a brilliant operator in the shadows: the “omnipresent” man who executes the mayor’s will and smooths his path. “I’ve never known him to be unkind or unfair to anyone,” this person says, pushing back against Lee’s critics.

Polling day in Makerfield is now just a week away, and our intrepid reporter Lucy McLaughlin is in the constituency right now, sniffing out stories. But in today’s edition we thought we would try to answer a question lots of people have been asking us recently: who are the people who are close to Burnham? Who does he listen to? 

Lee is the first name on the list, so we’ve been finding out how an Essex boy who took an unusual path into politics has become so indispensable to the mayor.

We’ve also come up with a half dozen other names who have been influential in the mayor’s northern court, whispering to him from behind the throne. They offer an insight into the way he governs — and who he might gather around him in Downing Street, if the voters of Makerfield give him that chance. 

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Head down to The University of Manchester’s Oxford Road campus on 13th June to join the fun. Click below to see the full programme – who knows what you’ll discover.

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Your briefing 

🚨 Footage of a masked suspect firebombing the house of an imam in Bolton has emerged. In the footage, a man wearing black clothing and a helmet approaches the house, smashes a front window and throws a lit object inside, producing a huge fireball. The incident took place yesterday. The imam, as well as his wife and children, were all in the house, but occupants of the building were evacuated with no one harmed. Greater Manchester Police has confirmed an arson investigation has been launched, saying they believe it was a “targeted” attack. It mirrors continued rioting and clashes with police in Northern Ireland over the Belfast knife attack. More here.

📻 University of Manchester vice chancellor Duncan Ivison appeared on Times Radio yesterday morning, and was asked about our reporting on the abuse faced by female medical students at the university. Ivison called the behaviour of some students – which has included habitual sexual harassment – “not acceptable at all”. But he couldn’t be pushed to answer whether any students would be expelled.

🍽️ A middling showing from Manchester’s food scene at the National Restaurant Awards, with four entries to the country’s top 100 (Skof at 29; Erst at 37; Higher Ground at 39; Winsome at 67). And Skof, our biggest big-hitter, also got a glowing Guardian review the other day, described as “intensely relaxed yet still ferociously fancy”, and a place where “deodorant is a boon” (perhaps that explains why, of the four, Skof is the only one The Mill’s Jack Dulhanty hasn’t been to). 

👩‍⚖️ Finally, GMCA was back in court with the Weis Group — a property developer that has been in a long-running legal battle with the combined authority over loans it has given to a rival, Renaker. The Weis’s were appealing a previous decision that found £140m of loans to Renaker did not amount to unlawful subsidy. Back in March, we revealed an internal report that found loans from the GMCA’s housing loan fund were “heavily skewed” towards Renaker. This time around, the Weis’s lawyers argued the analysis on which the money was loaned was “deeply flawed” and that the GMCA had not properly vetted the finances of Renaker’s founder Daren Whitaker before lending the money. The GMCA have always denied this, saying the process was commercially assessed and the loans underwent proper due diligence. The decision is still pending.

Meet Kevin Lee, Andy Burnham’s ultraloyal advisor who operates ‘in the shadows’ 

In March 2023, two men who have been inseparable for 16 years fell out spectacularly in Austin, Texas. And while the encounter did not lead to a saloon bar shootout, it did briefly threaten one of the closest and most productive relationships in British politics.

Andy Burnham was in town to appear at South by Southwest, a massive media and creative get-together, but those present remember his close advisor Kevin Lee looking visibly upset. What caused the bust-up?