Partisan right-wing attempt to ‘gotcha’ Andy Burnham just massively backfired

Would-be prime minister Andy Burnham was visiting a community centre in Makerfield, Manchester, when Reform UK and hard-right journalists tried to corner him. What they actually ended up doing was upsetting the clients of the centre: a group of adults with disabilities.

Burnham is running to be the MP for Makerfield and hopes to unseat current PM Keir Starmer. Right-wing news blog Guido Fawkes tried to capture the narrative. They claimed:

The Mail’s Christian Calgie trekked up to Makerfield this week to follow Reform on the campaign trail. By coincidence, he collided with Andy Burnham in a café. It did not go well. Burnham decided to turn it into a lecture on ‘boundaries’ (during an historic by-election in which he’s trying to defenestrate the Prime Minister)…

If the name Calgie is familiar it is because the same person previously got caught saying Your Party MP Zarah Sultana should be deported.

He was an Express journalist then and was forced to apologise:

I wish to apologise to Zarah Sultana MP for my inappropriate response to a message on X. It was wrong of me to do so and I am sorry.

Taking a break from X to prioritise my mental health.

— Calgie (@christiancalgie) October 18, 2025

A regular charmer.

It seems Calgie has a new job at the Mail. But is still being a bit of a wally. Following the Makersfield event, Calgie wrote that Burnham:

did not seem to want to engage. In fact he appeared furious and fumed: ‘You don’t go into a place like that unannounced! You’re out of order there!’

When I protested that I was merely on Nigel Farage’s campaign trail and that the encounter had not been planned, Mr Burnham raged: ‘I know who you are but you should not do that. You should have boundaries. I’m not going to do a “friendly, matey, this that or the other”. You need to be told.’

Adding:

I could not understand why he was so angry and asked if he was taking lessons from Donald Trump by launching personal attacks on journalists for doing their jobs.

‘The Press does not walk in like that,’ he responded. ‘If you’re going in with the media and a political party, you do not waltz into a place like that.

Burnham allergic to media scrutiny?

Guido – who, let us be frank, are basically the evil version of Skwawkbox – followed up by saying Burnham was “allergic to media scrutiny”.

Sorry to piss on your parade, lads. But you’ve left out some key details – again:

Left commentator Matthew Torbitt posted a quite different view of what happened on X:

Andy was visiting a community centre which supports adults with special needs, the media and Reform turned up without invite and upset the service users who have varying levels of disability

Doorstepping is largely fine in my book and he’s gonna get it but there is a line.

Andy was visiting a community centre which supports adults with special needs, the media and Reform turned up without invite and upset the service users who have varying levels of disability

Doorstepping is largely fine in my book and he’s gonna get it but there is a line. https://t.co/yVnBCAGxe4

— Matthew (@MatthewTorbitt) May 21, 2026

He’s right: doorstepping is a valuable tool for journalists. But considering the harm it can cause to others present is a matter of basic ethics.

Firstly, causing a ruckus at a centre whose visitors might be upset by your presence says everything we need to know about these outlets and Reform.

Secondly, we’re hardly Burnham fans. We have published fiery critiques of his politics regularly. And we’ll publish many more. But they’re always rooted in the facts of his career and the positions he has taken. Guido, the Mail and Reform UK are all part of the same partisan right-wing blob. They are animated solely by the same weird, bootlicking, pro-establishment ideology.

And once again, they’ve been found out.

Featured image via Getty/Dan Kitwood