Andy Burnham talks equality at £1400 private members’ club

Throughout his career, Andy Burnham has been keen to point out that he is not one of the ‘metropolitan elite’. The Labour leadership hopeful says that ‘for too long there has been a sense of a metropolitan elite at the top of the Labour party’.

So Mr S was curious to learn the venue for a talk he is giving next week. Burnham will appear at the Soho House private members’ club on Tuesday to read ‘a short story about equality and justice’. While Steerpike is sure Burnham’s words will be sincere, he worries that the venue – which is popular with Hugh Grant, Madonna and Kirsty Young – may distract from the message. To be a member of Soho House – which has exclusive clubs across the world – you must first apply and then if accepted, pay the full membership price of £1400 per year, on top of a £200 joining fee:

With Corbyn backers this week threatening to switch their second preference votes from Burnham to Yvette Cooper over concerns that his would-be chancellor Rachel Reeves is too right-wing, the engagement may make matters worse.