INTERVIEW: Nandy heaps praise on Burnham saying he’ll ‘always stand with the Jewish community’
Speaking exclusively to Jewish News, Culture Secretary says both Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the Greater Manchester Mayor are 'great allies' in fight against antisemitism
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has heaped praise on current Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham saying he will “always stand with” the UK’s Jewish community and described him as being “almost unique in British politics at the moment.”
Speaking to Jewish News as she attended the launch of the new Jewish Museum London space at the JW3 community centre, Nandy also robustly defended Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s record on challenging antisemitism, noting that the situation in the UK has “undeniably become much more difficult, much more toxic.”
She described both Burnham and the PM as “great allies” in the fight against antisemitism.
In an interview conducted on the eve of the Makerfield by-election, Nandy, 46, added: “I think Andy Burnham is almost unique in British politics at the moment, in that he is trying to, he’s looking for solutions to the real problems that people have.”
She said he had “stood with” the Jewish community in Greater Manchester after the horrendous attack at Heaton Park, “and he’ll stand with them always”.
Nandy, a long-time friend of Burnham’s, added: “He believes in justice, so is acutely aware of the need for a safe homeland for Jewish people, and the particularly unique historical reasons why Israel came into existence.
“But I’m convinced that he will also believe very strongly in the rights and dignity and justice for the Palestinian people.”
Nandy also confirmed Burnham had met with Jewish communal leaders in Greater Manchester “just a few weeks ago.”
Asked if she expected Burnham to take a similar stance on Israel as Starmer, if he became PM, Nandy reflects: “He believes in justice, so he’s acutely aware of the need for a safe homeland for Jewish people, you know, and the particularly unique historical reasons why Israel came into existence.”
She adds: “It is perfectly possible to stand up for the rights of Palestinian people without ever, ever accepting the appalling antisemitism that we’ve seen poison our public life here and poison our politics. And I’m really confident that both Andy Burnham and the Prime Minister will be great allies in that cause.”
It spoke volumes for Nandy’s determination to be seen to be doing her bit to stand with the community, that no, the evening of England’s opening World Cup clash with Croatia, she agreed to give the keynote speech at Wednesday’s opening of the new interim space for the Jewish Museum, which has been searching for a home since the closure of its Camden site in 2023.
In a handwritten address, she confirmed that up to £1 million is to be awarded to the museum to support its vital outreach and engagement programmes with schools and communities, and to accelerate its search for a new permanent home. A further £100,000 will also go to the Manchester Jewish Museum.
Her visit marked the opening of two new exhibitions celebrating the richness of the museum’s collections and the long history of Jewish families in Britain.
The Jewish Museum London closed its Camden site in 2023 and has since continued its work as a “museum without walls”, delivering exhibitions, learning programmes and community engagement activities across the capital.
The funding will support the museum’s ongoing audience development and outreach work, while also helping it develop its plans for a new permanent home in the future.
Nick Viner, chair of trustees of Jewish Museum London said:”The DCMS support will be invaluable in helping us over the next period as we become more outward facing, expanding our education outreach and increasing our collection loans across the country.
“It will also help us in our search for a new permanent home, enabling us to create a welcoming space where we can share our stories with the public and create new dialogues. We are very grateful for this strong expression of confidence in our future plans.
“We value the fact that Government realises the importance of the Jewish Museum’s programme at this time of mounting antisemitism and shares our belief that the British Jewish community is an integral part of the story of immigration and cultural identity in Britain, not a world apart.”
Speaking later to Jewish News, Nandy was open about the impact of her visiting the community at Heaton Park Synagogue following the Yom Kippur terror attack last year.
“I heard very loud and clear from members of that synagogue, some of whom I’ve known for a long time, that although they see the support that’s provided by the government, they need us to be noisy and very vocal and stand with them in solidarity,” Nandy confessed.
“They talk very compellingly about how difficult it’s been to do some of the things that they’ve done so brilliantly over the years, reaching out across Greater Manchester, which is one of the most diverse parts of the country, but where we’ve always had to make efforts to make sure that we know one another and we understand one another, and they talked about how much more difficult that had got at the time when it’s needed most.
“So this funding announcement that we’re making today is in direct response to that. That was a moment where I really sat up and took notice, where you cannot ignore the fact that you’ve just walked through a door that still has bullet holes in it, where people are talking about their friends lying dying next to the radiator in the hallway, and ignore those voices.
“Although this won’t solve all of the challenges that we’ve got, the answer cannot be just building ever higher walls. We’ve got to increase our connection, increase our level of understanding, and celebrate the contribution that the Jewish community has made to British public life over many centuries, and make still.”
But Nandy was only too aware that Heaton Park, along with a further spate of attacks in areas of London like Golders Green and Finchley, has left some in the community contemplating leaving the UK in fear of their safety, with some of those looking to depart considering Israel.
“There is a renewed interest in exploring the prospect of having a safe country to go to, and that breaks my heart,” says Nandy. “You heard that at Heaton Park.
“I want to acknowledge that there is a real, real fear and anxiety there that is real and comes from the events that we’ve seen. I, for what it’s worth, will never accept this country can be an unsafe place for Jewish people, and as a government, we will do everything that we can to turn that around.”
Jewish News asked the cabinet minister and Wigan MP if she understood that fear about their future in this country was one reason some Jews were now attending property fairs such as the one held at Edgware Synagogue last Sunday, which is now the subject of an Advertising Standards Authority probe as a result of claims brochures at the event advertised land in illegal West Bank settlements.
Nandy replied: “There are more property fairs happening around the whole of the UK, not just in London, and they’re happening in direct response to the three horrific attacks we’ve had on the streets of Britain, that has left the Jewish community reeling, and many people feeling deeply unsafe in their own country, and so there is a renewed interest in exploring the prospect of having a safe country to go to—and that breaks my heart.”
But Nandy then insisted it was impossible for the UK government to ignore the fact that property sales that potentially breached international law could have taken place at Sunday’s event.
“It cannot ever be right that the UK is hosting property fairs that are selling off properties that, frankly, are unlawful in British law that belong in the occupied Palestinian territories, to the Palestinian people, and make the prospect of a two-state solution almost impossible, because of the facts that they create on the ground,” she said.
“As a government, we just won’t accept that, and that’s why the Foreign Secretary and I took the action that we took. We will not allow that to stand.”
She added: “That is not about whether we’re prepared to support the Jewish community, certainly not about Israel’s right to exist.
“We support that as a government, but… it makes the prospect of a two-state solution almost impossible, and everybody is poorer for that… If you want, as this government does, you want a safe and secure Israel alongside a dignified and just Palestine, then there is only one route through this, and it’s for a two-state solution, and the settlements in the end, the building in the occupied Palestinian territories run directly counter to that.”
In a well-received speech to attendees of the Jewish Museum relaunch Nandy spoke passionately about her admiration for the community here.
“I stand here as the Culture Secretary, acutely aware that this moment exists to shine a light on the extraordinary contribution that Jewish people have made to our cultural life and to British life over centuries,” she said.
But then she noted how in recent years “we’ve seen events cancelled because of security concerns and stories silenced as a consequence.”
Nandy said calls from community figures, including the Chief Rabbi, to stand with the community in the fight against antisemitism have resonated with her.
She told Jewish News she understood the struggles facing the Jewish community in public and cultural life. “It’s become much more difficult to do the sort of outreach work and invite children into synagogues, and to help foster that level of connection and understanding, because of genuine security concerns,” she said.
“We are, as a government, absolutely crystal clear that security concerns can never be a barrier to Jewish people being able to play their full part in public life, and children growing up, knowing it’s their birthright to understand the country that they live in, and so that’s partly what today is about addressing.”
Nandy also insisted that, despite the scepticism of some in the community, real action was taken in response to antisemitism in the arts.
“When I was first appointed as the Culture Secretary a couple of years ago, one of the first things we did was set up an antisemitism working group in the department about the silencing of the Jewish community public in cultural life,” she recalled.
“It was a direct response to one of (Courts minister) Sarah Sackman’s constituents, who’d written to her to say that, as a Jewish film director, he’d had his work cancelled at many prominent institutions, citing the war in the Middle East as a reason. His work is not about the Middle East; it was simply because he was a Jewish film director. Now that cannot be allowed to stand.
“What that working group that John Mann and Phil Rosenberg, co-chair for us, has uncovered is that across many of these institutions security concerns are often cited as the excuse for not going ahead with an event and will never allow that to stand.”
Nandy said her department is working with partners across the sector: “So we’re working with Channel Four, we’re working with the BBC, we’re working with the Arts Council, we’re working with the National Theatre.
“We had all of those institutions represented at the Downing Street Summit, and we’re working with them in order to roll out training across their organisations to implement minimum standards. We’ve got examples of cultural institutions who’ve done this very well, and navigated this very well.”
She pointed to a broader cultural challenge: “The National Theatre is interested in how they tell better stories about the contribution that Jewish people have made to public life, and helping people to not just see Jewish people in this country through the lens of what’s happening in the Middle East, but to understand what Jewish people contribute to our country and how they’ve helped to define what it means to be British.
“There’s no one simple thing, though, that will solve this in the end. It is about changing the culture of this country and the way in which Jewish people are perceived and treated.”
Jewish News also questioned Nandy about the increasing likelihood of a challenge to current PM Starmer, possibly by Burnham, if he wins Thursday’s Makerfield by-election.
Nandy is understandably cautious about her responses, although it is clear she has great regard for Burnham, while pointing out that she first worked with Starmer two-decades ago when he was at the DPP, and has been a proud member of his cabinet for the past six years.
“I’ve known him (Starmer) very well for the last six years as a member of his cabinet and Shadow Cabinet, and I know that he is utterly sincere in his loathing of antisemitism,” she says.
“When he said that we would tear it out of Labour by its roots, it was not uncontroversial in the Labour Party that he inherited, and he was as good as his word, and he did that, and he will continue to do that, continue to challenge wherever he sees anti-semitism in society. The recent antisemitism summit at Downing Street was a personal mission for him.”
“I think it’s hard to find anyone who’s done as much as the Prime Minister to tackle antisemitism,” Nandy reflects, “but I would equally say that Andy, as my mayor in Greater Manchester, has a good reputation with members of the Jewish community.”
Asked if she expected Burnham to take a similar stance on Israel as Starmer, if he became PM, Nandy reflects: “He believes he believes in justice, so he’s acutely aware of the need for a safe homeland for Jewish people, you know, and the particularly unique historical reasons why Israel came into existence.”
She adds: “It is perfectly possible to stand up for the rights of Palestinian people without ever, ever accepting the appalling antisemitism that we’ve seen poison our public life here and poison our politics.
“And I’m really confident that both Andy Burnham and the Prime Minister will be great allies in that cause.”
Burnham is reportedly considering announcing a leadership challenge if he wins the by-election in Makerfield.
The Prime Minister has insisted he will fight any challenge, believing he has a duty to the country,
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