Andy Burnham has vowed he will usher in the biggest changes to Britain’s political and economic model in 40 years. Key to Burnham’s “new approach” as he takes over from Keir Starmer is “No.10 North.”
The day after Burnham was installed as Prime Minister, “No.10 North” began operating. Its focus is on “digital work” and is housed in GCHQ’s regional offices.
“No.10 North” is not Burnham’s idea, nor, so it seems, is it what it is being sold to the public as.
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Machinery of Government (“MoG”) changes are reorganisations that create, abolish, merge, or rename government departments or transfer functions between ministers and departments in the UK. These changes allow the Prime Minister to rewire the state, typically to signal policy priorities, improve service delivery or manage political imperatives, without requiring prior parliamentary approval for the structural shift itself.
Unelected Prime Minister Andy Burnham is using the MoG mechanism to drive forward the same agenda that began under Starmer.
Burnham “has made a number of changes to the machinery of government to rewire the state,” a Cabinet Office “news story” says. The changes include:
Office for the Prime Minister and Cabinet:
To ensure the centre of government is focused on delivering the Government’s top strategic priorities, the Prime Minister has created an Office for the Prime Minister and the Cabinet (OPMC). The OPMC will house No.10, No.10 North and core Cabinet Office functions serving the PM and Cabinet.
The OPMC will include a new AI Taskforce, supported by a Prime Ministerial adviser on AI, to drive the Government’s overall strategy on AI and unlock the opportunities it holds for growth, prosperity and public sector transformation.
The Cabinet Office will also take the lead on AI adoption across the Civil Service, reflecting the urgency of delivering that transformation for the benefit of people across the country.
To deliver this step change, responsibility for AI strategy, public sector AI adoption and the AI Security Institute will move to the Cabinet Office. [Emphasis added]
Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport:
The newly expanded Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport spans the culture and creativity of this great nation. The new structure brings together telecoms, media and the Government’s Digital Service (GDS). It will reflect the inseparable nature of culture and technology as drivers of our country and the modern economy.
Reflecting that traditional boundaries across the print, broadcasting and social media landscape have dissolved, it will provide coherent and strategic oversight, across telecoms, media and online safety to maintain the UK’s world-leading strengths in those sectors. This department will also continue to drive the modernisation of government and public services via the GDS.
The strengthened DCMS will also bring together levers on online safety, mis- and disinformation as we tackle ever more sophisticated challenges to keep people safe online. This will sit alongside its existing responsibilities on youth policy, providing an unprecedented focus on support. [Emphasis added]
News Story: Machinery of Government changes: Fact Sheet, Cabinet Office, 22 July 2026
Related: Machinery of Government Changes, Statement made on 21 July 2021, UK Parliament
Burnham’s “No.10 North” is not what it seems. Nor is it his idea.
On the back of an announcement made by Starmer’s government last year to move government jobs out of London, “In March this year, Chancellor Rachel Reeves gave the green light for the ‘Manchester Digital Campus’, which will see 8,800 civil servants be based there, and has been dubbed the ‘Whitehall of the North’,” Manchester Evening News said. “Those inside will work for various government departments with a focus on digital work.”
Andy Burnham was officially appointed as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on Monday, 20 July 2026.
The next day, on Tuesday, Chronicle Live reported: “The Prime Minister’s [Burnham’s] official spokesman told reporters: ‘Staff are already working in the new No.10 North. This includes staff from Manchester and those who have come in from around the country’.”
“No.10 North’s longer-term base will be Manchester’s new Government Digital Campus in Ancoats (based at a former retail park), but it’s not expected to open until 2032,” the outlet added.
Manchester Evening News clarified that the site was under construction: “The development is not due to be completed until 2032.” The Daily Mail noted that the site had already been earmarked as a civil service hub.
“No.10 North” is not Burnham’s idea.
Until the digital campus is operational, “No.10 North will temporarily be based at Heron House in central Manchester. The building already serves as the regional base for the UK’s intelligence agency, GCHQ,” Chronicle Live said. ”It’s understood that GCHQ has no plans to vacate the building,” Manchester Evening News added.
GCHQ, or Government Communications Headquarters, is the UK’s intelligence, security and cyber agency. GCHQ “provides intelligence, protects information and informs relevant UK policy to keep society safe and successful in the internet age,” the Government states.
Caroline Simpson, the former chief executive of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, will run No.10 North as the Prime Minister’s deputy chief of staff. She is tasked with managing the day-to-day operations and political relationships of the Manchester-based office.
On the ministerial level, the new OPMC – which houses “No.10 North” – will be led by Louise Haigh, a convicted fraudster.
Who do you think is really running the “digital work” in “No.10 North”?
In an article posted on Sunday, The Observer noted that some Labour MPs “chunter darkly about being ruled by ‘a Manchester mafia’.” They could well be right.
Further reading:
- Burnham’s AI shakeup is a shambles, The Spectator, 22 July 2026
- DSIT scrapped and AI gains top-table seat as Burnham premiership kicks off in UK, Global Government Finance, 22 July 2026
“No.10 North” is not Burnham’s idea.
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Categories: Breaking News, UK News