Andy Burnham: UK’s First Catholic Prime Minister? Yes and No

If he were to actually act like a Catholic in No. 10 Downing Street, the Red Socialist Labour Party would turf him out in just a few minutes!

From Aleteia

By Joanne McPortland

Labour Party's Andy Burnham says Catholicism is an important part of his life and his politics -- though he no longer practices the faith.

When Andrew Murray Burnham became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom this month, news stories were quick to call him the first Catholic to hold this office. It's true that Burnham, who was born to an Irish Catholic mother in the Liverpool area, identifies himself as Catholic. That's big news in the UK, where the established church is Protestant and until the early 1800s, Catholic were barred from any Parliamentary office, not to mention that of Prime Minister.

Today's Britain is deeply secularized, with 37% of those surveyed in England and Wales recently claiming "no religion," and less than half calling themselves Christian. But past tensions between Catholics and Protestants were not limited to clashes in Ireland. As the New York Times explained in a profile of Burnham's faith:

The English church originated in King Henry VIII’s long-ago break with Rome. The story in other parts of Britain was different, but religious rivalry and fear were widespread.

English Protestants regarded a Catholic leader as a threat to their sovereignty, a fear that eventually led to the Glorious Revolution of 1688, which saw the overthrow of the last Catholic king, James II. Anti-Catholic laws followed. Legislation passed in 1829 and then 1858 removed many, but not all, of those legal barriers.

The UK has had one prime minister who was Jewish by birth -- Benjamin Disraeli was raised in the Church of England from his early teens -- and one practicing Hindu, Rishi Sunak. Boris Johnson was baptized Catholic but received into the Anglican Church as an Eton student. Tony Blair was married to a Catholic and often attended Catholic services while prime minister, but did not officially convert until after leaving office. The Catholic Tudor Queen Mary I appointed a Catholic as her chief advisor, but there was no such formal role as prime minister at the time.

So Andy Burnham is a first.

Cultural identity, Catholic social teaching

Burnham himself, however, admits his Catholicism is more a part of his cultural identity than a devotional practice. He attended Catholic grammar school and high school, and with his brothers was an altar server. His mother, Eileen, who carried her rosary beads openly as her son's family took up residence at 10 Downing Street, remembers: "You should have seen the fights he and his brothers had on Sundays. They were all altar boys, but Andy had to be the one at the front holding the Communion plate.”

In 2009, Burnham told The Guardian:

“Three things are important in my life, apart from family. Everton F.C., the Labour Party and the Catholic church — in that order.” (Everton, which is based in Liverpool, is the soccer club he has long supported.) “The reason I say that is, it all comes back to cultural identity,” he added.

But while his practice of the faith lapsed as an adult, one strong influence shaped Burnham's political life. Even as an altar boy he had listened avidly to the messages of Liverpool's Catholic Archbishop Derek Worlock, who spoke forcefully against the social injustices of Thatcherist Britain. Today Burnham describes Catholic social teaching as the bedrock of his work: “I was brought up in the belief in Catholic social teaching and that was hugely formative. As I saw it, the closest thing to what I was told there was Labour politics," he told Britain's The Telegraph.

While serving in Parliament and as Mayor of Manchester, Andy Burnham often clashed with Church teaching on contraception and homosexuality while upholding the option for the poor and homeless.

Catholic leaders watching

Pope Leo XIV, who is rumored to be planning a visit to Great Britain, will certainly be watching how Burnham's Catholic background might shape his policy directions. It's a question Catholic leaders in the UK will be keeping an eye on, too, as NCR reports:

Catholic leaders will no doubt watch how the new prime minister might deal with contentious issues such as assisted dying, considered anathema to the Catholic Church, or funding for faith schools.

The leading Catholic cleric in England and Wales, the archbishop of Westminster, Richard Moth, told the BBC earlier this month that being a Catholic and Christian as Burnham is, "informs conscience, the way you think about things."

Under Burnham, he said he hoped "we are going to see that real concern for humanity, not just on the grand scale but for the needs of families and the homeless." And outside Downing Street on Monday, Burnham said his first task as prime minister is to end "rough sleeping in our country," referring to unhoused people sleeping on the street. 

At this historic moment, all Catholics might want to do what Eileen Burnham is surely doing for her son every day: say a prayer that his Catholic roots may yield good things for his country and its people.