Another key strand of Burnham’s campaigning strategy has been connecting with and organising grassroots social media activists.
Among the politicians and staffers invited to stand outside Number 10 to watch Burnham become prime minister on Monday were teenage TikTokers whose video edits have brought him to a new social media audience.
Between them, Will, Lottie, Megan, Ellen and Poppy, all aged between 17 and 19 have racked up millions of likes on TikTok, and across platforms share memes, trends and nostalgic edits of New Labour footage, including of Burnham’s time in office.
The Labour activists were invited to canvass with him and make edits of his time on the Makerfield by-election campaign trail in a language and style that resonates with people online.
One way they got thousands of likes was by getting him to sign and pose with red pre-made cocktails popular with Gen Z.
Megan Cassidy, 19, from Havering, started making Labour content a year ago and said it was “surreal” to have found herself at Downing Street: “I really felt like I was witnessing history around me”.
The young Labour activists said they were given access to Burnham and footage of him by his team, but are not paid and can choose to edit the material how they like.
They saw it as an opportunity to gain ground from social media savvy parties like Reform, whose leader Nigel Farage has an exponentially bigger following on social media, and the Greens who have experienced large growth in recent months.
It helped that Burnham was “natural” and happy to spontaneously appear in content, they told the BBC.
“I do think he gets it, absolutely compared to other politicians, compared to Starmer for example, I think he’s a lot more charismatic,” said Megan.
