I grew up near Andy Burnham. This is what shaped our new PM

Burnham has recalled his upbringing as ‘modest’, but his family also ‘didn’t want for anything’. Composite: Guardian Design/PA/Getty Images View image in fullscreen Burnham has recalled his upbringing as ‘modest’, but his family also ‘didn’t want for anything’. Composite: Guardian Design/PA/Getty Images I grew up near Andy Burnham. This is what shaped our new PM In the Warrington suburb of Culcheth, people are hopeful about what one of their own can achieve as the first northern PM in half a century The Cherry Tree pub is an unassuming local. On a busy road in the Cheshire village of Culcheth, it is a chain-run pub where four shots cost £8, every burger comes with a soft drink, and sport is shown all day on the big screens. It is also a favourite of Andy Burnham , the new prime minister. Many of the drinkers have a story about – arguably – Culcheth’s most famous son. “I was at school with Andy,” says Mike Hodgson. “He went to our school, he likes the Smiths … He’s got a good northern sense of person, and he’s done a good job in Manchester .” Janice Fox chips in: “I used to play with him when we were kids.” The Cherry is in the opening scene of Burnham’s book Head North. One night in April 1989, in its smoke-filled back room, the future leader of the country is recovering from a bout of “impostor syndrome” while home from Cambridge University. Panic, by the Smiths, is playing on the jukebox. It is also a place I know well: like Burnham, I grew up in this quiet Warrington suburb halfway between Manchester and Liverpool, I have spent many nights at the Cherry, and like many locals, I have my own story about him. View image in fullscreen The Cherry Tree pub in Culcheth. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian Here is mine: 15 years ago I met the then Labour MP for Leigh while drinking with mates in the Cherry. Labour had recently lost the 2010 election, and Burnham had recently lost to Ed Miliband in the race to lead the party in opposition. Home from London for the weekend, I was struggling to get a job, so plucked up the courage for a chat. As the then shadow education secretary, he talked me through the impact of the Conservatives’ plan to cut Labour’s Building Schools for the Future programme. That £55bn landmark New Labour policy turned cold, leaky 1960s prefab schools around the country into modern buildings of which teachers and pupils could be proud; it rebuilt my secondary, Culcheth high school . He gave me his mobile number and invited me for a cup of tea in parliament. I expected to be ghosted. But a few weeks later we were sitting in SW1 picking up the conversation over a brew in Portcullis House. Burnham told me Britain’s media and political landscape needed more northern accents like ours. On Friday, Burnham opened No 10 North, in Manchester ; a first step in his promise to rebalance power away from Westminster to deliver “good growth in every postcode”. This week I travelled back to WA3 to find out what people make of Burnham beco