Andy Burnham beats Farage on all but one characteristic of a leader, new poll finds

Andy Burnham polls better than Nigel Farage on every characteristic a leader should have apart from one, new polling has found.

This week, Keir Starmer announced he was resigning as Labour leader, less than two years after guiding the party to a huge majority at the last general election.

This came after Andy Burnham had secured his return to parliament with victory in the Makerfield by-election, allowing him to launch a leadership challenge against Starmer.

Since Starmer’s resignation speech, Burnham has confirmed he will launch a leadership bid, and it’s looking increasingly likely that he could be unopposed in a contest, giving him a full-blown coronation.

It’s no secret why Labour MPs have rallied behind Burnham – they think they have a better chance of beating Reform and Nigel Farage at the next general election with the Makerfield MP in charge.

For months, polls have found that not only does Burnham poll better than Starmer, but he also can claim the crown of the UK’s most popular politician, or rather, the UK’s least unpopular politician.

Since Starmer’s resignation, it seems almost inevitable that Burnham was ascend to the Labour leadership. Already, the bookies have slashed their odds on Labour claiming the most seats at the next election and they are now favourites ahead of Reform.

And there’s yet more good news for Burnham and the MPs supporting him according to some new polling from Ipsos.

The pollsters asked members of the public whether they thought a number of statements about leadership characteristics applied to Burnham and Farage.

Examples of the 15 statements included whether they thought each man is ‘in touch with ordinary people,’ whether or not they are likeable and if they act with integrity.

On almost every single statement, people thought it applied to Burnham more than Farage. The only statement where Farage came out on top was “he has a lot of personality.”

The characteristic that Burnham claimed the biggest margin of victory on was like-ability, beating Farage by 40% to 26%.

The breakdown of the results was:

He has a lot of personality – Burnham 42% / Farage 44%
He is in touch with ordinary people – Burnham 42% / Farage 31%
He is a likeable person – Burnham 40% / Farage 26%
He is an experienced leader – Burnham 40% / Farage 30%
He understands the problems facing Britain – Burnham 39% / Farage 38%
He is a capable leader – Burnham 39% / Farage 30%
He is a strong leader- Burnham 39% / Farage 35%
He acts with integrity – Burnham 35% / Farage 23%
He has sound judgement – Burnham 33% / Farage 23%
He is an honest person – Burnham 30% / Farage 20%
He pays attention to detail – Burnham 30% / Farage 25%
Has the right plans for Britain – Burnham 28% / Farage 28%
He is good in a crisis – Burnham 27% / Farage 22%
He shares my values – Burnham 26% / Farage 25%
He gets the big decisions right – Burnham 26% / Farage 22%

Charlie Herbert

Charlie is content editor and writer at the London Economic. With a keen interest in politics, he has worked on both the 2019 and 2024 general elections, and joined TLE full time in January 2025. Since then, it's safe to say there's been plenty to keep him busy on both sides of the Atlantic.