{
  "id": 10201385,
  "title": "Tony Blair would like Andy Burnham to take his advice on rejoining the EU. Should he? | Tom Baldwin",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/27/tony-blair-would-like-andy-burnham-to-take-his-advice-on-rejoining",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-09-27T11:05:08.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Guardian Business",
    "slug": "guardian-business",
    "url": "https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/sep/27/tony-blair-andy-burnham-advice-rejoining-eu-labour"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Former Prime Minister Tony Blair has reportedly offered advice to current Labour leader Andy Burnham, according to a story from 2010. The former PM reportedly had a secret meeting with Burnham during his time as a cabinet member in Gordon Brown's government, in which he sought Burnham's counsel on the party leadership. However, Burnham's journey out of Westminster and back again has led him to distance himself from New Labour baggage. Like Brown, Ed Miliband, Jeremy Corbyn, and Keir Starmer, Burnham now also wants to keep Blair at arm's length and avoid any association with him, particularly during his party conference in Liverpool.",
  "summary": "The former PM has been consulted by many who came after him – but Burnham might want to shake his New Labour past once and for all Tony Blair can, apparently, sound slightly wistful when he describes how he once had a cloak-and-dagger meeting with Andy Burnham, who wanted to talk to him about standing for the party leadership. Before anyone gets too excited, however, this wasn’t in the past few…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 4,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Guardian Business",
        "title": "Andy Burnham talks about ‘public control’ of the utilities but it’s a minefield. We can lead him through it | Will Hutton and Andy Haldane",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/25/andy-burnham-talks-about-public-control-of-the-utilities-but-its-a",
        "published": "2026-09-25T05:00:41.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Politico EU",
        "title": "Burnham plans first Berlin visit for talks with Merz",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/25/burnham-plans-first-berlin-visit-for-talks-with-merz",
        "published": "2026-09-25T12:28:04.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "BBC Business",
        "title": "Andy Burnham refuses to back third runway at Heathrow",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/27/andy-burnham-refuses-to-back-third-runway-at-heathrow",
        "published": "2026-09-27T11:22:32.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}