Paul Vallely and Nick Spencer join Ed Thornton on the podcast this week to discuss how Andy Burnham’s Roman Catholicism influences his politics. 

Nick Spencer writes in the Analysis section of this week’s Church Times about what kind of religious politician Mr Burnham is, and what faith groups can expect from him once he enters 10 Downing Street, as he is expected to do later this month. Paul Vallely, in his column this week, finds echoes of papal encyclicals in Mr Burnham’s speech in Manchester on Monday. “Manchesterism, it seems, is the new word for Catholic social teaching,” he argues.

Paul Vallely is a writer, broadcaster, and consultant who specialises in philanthropy, business ethics, and international development. He is a Senior Honorary Fellow at the Global Development Institute at the University of Manchester. He writes a weekly column for the Church Times. He is the editor of The New Politics: Catholic social teaching for the twenty-first century (SCM Press). His most recent books are Live Aid: The definitive 40-year story (New Modern) (Books, 5 December 2025) and Philanthropy: From Aristotle to Zuckerberg (Bloomsbury) (Books, 11 September 2020, Podcast, 17 September 2020).

Dr Nick Spencer is senior fellow at Theos, and the host of the podcast Reading our Times. His books include The Landscapes of Science and Religion: What are we disagreeing about? (OUP) (Books, 10 October 2025) (written with Hannah Waite) and The Mighty and the Almighty: How political leaders do God (editor) (Biteback) (Books, 16 June 2017).

Podcast edited by Katie Bartlett.

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