Wigram to Westminster: Kiwi Labour hand Hayden Munro running Andy Burnham leadership campaign
Thursday, 2 July 2026
A Kiwi who ran campaigns for Labour under Jacinda Ardern is at the heart of the likely next UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s leadership campaign.
Hayden Munro, who was Labour Party campaign manager in 2020 and 2023, is deputy campaign manager for Burnham’s Labour Party leadership bid.
Burnham was the mayor of Manchester before deciding to run in a high-profile by-election engineered to give him a way to challenge UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer for his role.
Starmer announced he was standing down after Burnham won the by-election by a huge margin, despite the area voting Reform UK just months prior. Burnham is now running for the Labour Party leadership - and with it the UK premiership - unopposed.
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The Post understands Munro is coordinating Burnham’s campaign. Munro declined to comment.
Labour MP Megan Woods, who first worked with Munro when he was a Young Labour member helping with Jim Anderton’s 2010 Christchurch mayoral bid, said his appointment was no surprise.
“He learned the craft of campaigning from someone who lived and breathed it. Hayden has always had an exceptional ability to think about campaigns, operations, but strategy as well.”
“He was my press secretary in Government and his ability to think about political messaging and Government messaging is exceptional.”
Nominations for the Labour Party leadership will close on July 16. If there is no contest Burnham will become leader in the days following and be sworn in as UK Prime Minister on July 20.
Munro moved to the UK following Labour’s loss in 2023. He has been working at Arden Strategies, a lobbyist firm with close ties to the UK Labour Party, led by former Labour minister Jim Murphy.