The Yorkshire politician acting as linchpin at the heart of Government
I met Louise Haigh – the now de-facto deputy Prime Minister – at an event towards the end of 2025. The week before she had appeared on the BBC’s Have I Got News for You, where she’d been given a hard time, but I believe many would agree that she responded admirably.
She wasn’t the first sitting MP to be given a rough ride on the programme, and she certainly won’t be the last. But where some politicians become visibly flustered, a quiet assuredness set the tone for what will become Haigh’s pivotal role in Government.
From my albeit brief introduction – and in my line of work meeting MPs is a regular occurrence – Louise seemed grounded, assured and human. These are qualities the Burnham Government will need in abundance if they are to reset the clock with an understandably sceptical public.
With the ‘Burnham Bounce’ in full effect and Labour enjoying their first consistent lead in opinion polls since early 2025, now seems like a good time to take a step back and assess how the new Government will aim to differ from what has gone before. Short social media videos are in; lecterns and formality are out. We have a Prime Minister in sportswear running among and alongside the masses.
‘But it’s not prime ministerial’ wails the commentariat. That may be true, but what has been missing from politics for a very long time has been the ability for the general public to form a connection with those in power. Anybody watching Prime Minister’s questions for example – and I was fortunate to be in the chamber for one such occurrence earlier this year – will note a near complete detachment from the real world among participants.
The shift has already started, and we’ll see an acceleration of this more relaxed style over the coming weeks and months. The Government will need to find a balance. Formality and seriousness will still have a role to play, but a friendlier face is no bad thing.Perhaps forming a connection with the general public and, dare I say, being likeable, is an admirably quality for those leading the country?
Louise Haigh has been at the heart of the Burnham project. She has been rewarded with one of the most influential positions in cabinet and will hold the role of deputy on those occasions the PM is absent. The MP for Sheffield Heeley makes for a triumvirate of South Yorkshire MPs at the heart of Government, alongside Chancellor John Healey and Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband.
It is arguable that Yorkshire – and the North – has never been better represented at a ministerial level. Add to that roles in Government for the former Leader of Leeds City Council, Baroness Blake, and a new Permanent Secretary Role for her longstanding Chief Executive Tom Riordan, and the corridors of power are positively brimming with residents of the shire.
When I sat and chatted to Haigh over pie and peas in a room full of people in a remote corner of Sheffield, it didn’t feel like a conventional conversation with an MP, but rather a chat with an old acquaintance or someone you’d just met down the pub. If there’s one thing that politics in the UK needs right now, it’s the kind of politicians that don’t feel out of place in those sorts of situations.
