I fired Britains new prime minister from a newspaper column
Robb Report chief content officer Dylan Jones says he fired Britains new prime minister Andy Burnham from a columnist role at London's Evening Standard. As editor-in-chief from 2023, Jones dropped Burnham—then Manchester's mayor—for repeatedly pitching local civic topics, later giving the slot to artist Tracey Emin.
Key Takeaways
- Dylan Jones, now Robb Report's chief content officer, says he dismissed Andy Burnham as an Evening Standard columnist while editing the paper.
- Burnham, 56, recently became Britain's prime minister, replacing Keir Starmer after a rare political coronation.
- Jones says Burnham kept pitching Manchester civic topics instead of broader subjects the paper wanted.
- The column slot went to artist Tracey Emin, who wrote about post-cancer trauma and painting.
Who fired Britains new prime, and why does it matter?
In a first-person Robb Report feature, Dylan Jones recounts that his last full-time job before joining the luxury title was editing the Evening Standard, London's long-running newspaper with a circulation of more than half a million.
He joined as editor-in-chief in 2023 and inherited a high-profile roster of columnists spanning politics and culture. Among them was Andy Burnham, then the widely praised mayor of Manchester—and now Britain's newest prime minister.
The essay lands on a luxury lifestyle desk better known for shelter and yachting coverage, including Joni Mitchell's former Malibu beach house, listed at $27 million. Fans of high-end property can browse more on BlasterPost's luxury real estate and dream homes hub.
What did Burnham want to write about each week?
Jones says Burnham filed on Thursday mornings, after a Wednesday call to discuss topics. The editor pushed for pieces on Manchester versus London mayoral politics, Sadiq Khan, or the challenges of steering New York.
Burnham, Jones writes, preferred the inner workings of his Manchester office—subsidized buses, cycle lanes, waste collection, sewage issues, wealth-tax legality, social housing, NHS funding, and public transport. Jones found that beat too narrow for Standard readers and says Burnham politely declined to widen it.
Between calls with luxury brands such as Ralph Lauren and Orient Express, Jones describes being patched through to Manchester to hear those civic pitches again. He calls Burnham charming but pedestrian on the page, and says the future prime minister had "one good column in him" that he wanted to repeat weekly.
How did the columnist exit reshape Burnham's path?
Jones says he ultimately let Burnham go and offered the slot to Tracey Emin, who became an immediate hit writing about post-cancer trauma and how illness changed her painting.
Burnham, Jones concludes, had "different fish to fry," aiming to become Britain's next prime minister rather than a star columnist. Jones notes Britain has had eight prime ministers in six years and lists Burnham as the latest after Starmer, with the 56-year-old facing pressure to move toward the center on growth while his Labour Party pulls left.
That media-world footnote now reads like a luxury-adjacent power anecdote: the editor who once spiked the King of the North's column is telling the story from Robb Report, alongside dream-home fare such as Mitchell's modern Cape Cod-style Malibu bungalow with a light-filled layout spilling onto a stone terrace with a pool and spa.