So far, Andy Burnham has not revealed who funded the Makerfield campaign that precipitated his rapid ascent to Prime Minister. However, on the same day as his by-election victory, upon which he automatically vacated his previous post as mayor of Greater Manchester, Burnham registered £27,000 in “mayoral campaigning donations”. One of the donors was ex-Blairite Minister and now life peer David Blunkett.

Burnham and Blunkett

In 2023, Blunkett, a long-standing supporter of Labour Friends of Israel, proclaimed that MPs calling for a ceasefire in Gaza were engaging in “gesture politics” and should “grow up”. He added that Keir Starmer was right to reject such calls.

After Burnham served as his private parliamentary secretary, Blunkett says that the two “became close”. Like Burnham, Blunkett was a key supporter of Tony Blair’s invasion of Iraq. In 2016, the former Home Secretary said that, even though the British public would never “get over Iraq”, he stood by his decision. Burnham consistently voted against an inquiry into the Iraq invasion.

In 2002, Blunkett warned against schools being “swamped” by the children of families seeking asylum in Britain. At the time, Labour MP Diane Abbott responded by saying:

We are talking about children here, not raw sewage.

In 2025, Blunkett wrote the foreword to a report on “Islamist Antisemitism”. The paper was produced by Daniel Allington, Head of Online Monitoring for the Campaign Against Antisemitism, on behalf of the Counter Extremism Group, of which Blunkett is a senior advisor.

Campaign Against Antisemitism

The Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) was formed after a local theatre in London refused to host a film festival whilst it was funded by the Israeli Embassy. It is led by lobbyist Gideon Falter, who has previously been seen with a bodyguard from the SQR Security Group. SQR is headed by two former Mossad agents.

Falter is also vice-chair of the Jewish National Fund’s UK branch, a charity which gave £1 million to “Israel’s largest militia”. Honorary patrons include Benjamin Netanyahu and Tony Blair.

On the same day as Burnham took office as Prime Minister, Falter wrote an open letter demanding that he make combating antisemitism a “central priority” of his government, adding that CAA had their own “plan”, which they were willing to “discuss … with you directly”.

Burnham is one of the MPs who “flocked” to join Labour Friends of Israel in 2015. At that time, he described boycott, divestment, and sanction (BDS) efforts against the settler state as “spiteful”. He also said that the Balfour Declaration, in which the British government promised the land of Palestine to the Zionist movement, was “an example of British values in action”.

Burnham believed that the centenary anniversary of Arthur Balfour’s letter to banker Walter Rothschild should be marked with events in schools to celebrate, in his words, how Britain:

played a role in the establishment of a democracy in the region.

Burnham has never withdrawn these statements.

Israeli lobby continues to pressure Burnham

So confident has the pro-Israeli lobby become in Britain, even the mildest comments from Burnham are met with consternation. When the new Prime Minister said, “we’ve got to do more to put pressure on the Israeli government” – a meaningless statement repeated ad nauseam by British politicians – the Board of Deputies expressed “significant concerns”.

This follows a pattern. In September 2024, Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis denounced the British government’s decision to suspend some arms export licenses, lamenting that it would boost arguments that the Israeli state was breaching international law, which he described as a “falsehood”.

In April, Labour’s Courts Minister, Sarah Sackman, said that she agreed with Mirvis’ assessment of antisemitism in Britain. What she did not mention is that Mirvis’ son has served in the Israeli military, which he described as “our incredible heroic soldiers”.

Last month, Mirvis congratulated Burnham on his coronation. Behind the faux outrage, the new Prime Minister is seen as a safe bet.

Featured image via the Canary

By Jody McIntyre

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