{"id":21000,"date":"2026-07-24T17:32:47","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T17:32:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=21000"},"modified":"2026-07-24T17:32:47","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T17:32:47","slug":"uks-most-football-obsessed-prime-minsters-as-burnham-becomes-first-everton-fan-in-no-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=21000","title":{"rendered":"UK’s most football-obsessed Prime Minsters \u2013 as Burnham becomes first Everton fan in No.10"},"content":{"rendered":"


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New Prime Minister Andy Burnham is the first Everton fan in Number 10 \u2013 and he\u2019s sure to be cheering on the Toffees as they play in a friendly against Bolton tomorrow.<\/p>\n

Recently snapped running in a retro club shirt, he\u2019s said in the past: \u201cI have a season ticket . It’s my big thing .\u201d But the Labour leader is not the first PM to love the beautiful game. Here’s a look at who previous occupants supported.<\/p>\n

Arthur Balfour: Serving as PM between 1902 and 1905, the Conservative politician was a Manchester MP and patron of Manchester City. He wore a Sky Blues rosette to the FA Cup final in 1904 \u2013 and awarded the trophy to City after they beat Bolton Wanderers 1-0.<\/p>\n

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\"Arthur<\/figure>\n<\/div>
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Arthur Balfour loved the Sky Blues(Image: Popperfoto\/Getty Images)<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Harold Wilson<\/strong> : The Labour leader was a Huddersfield Town fan. He even carried a photo<\/em> of the 1924-25 First Division title-winning team around in his wallet and once dropped in to the Terriers\u2019 dressing room to chat with the players, complete with his trademark pipe.<\/p>\n

Ted Heath:<\/strong> The Conservative leader is believed to have supported Burnley FC. He opened the \u00a3450,000 Bob Lord Stand at the club\u2019s Turf Moor ground in 1974, praising its new state-of -the-art facilities.<\/p>\n

John Major:<\/strong> Although more of a cricket than a football devotee, the former London-born Tory PM began supporting Chelsea FC when they won their first league title in 1955 and has been spotted cheering on the Blues at their Stamford Bridge ground.<\/p>\n

Tony Blair:<\/strong> Growing up in the North-East the Labour PM became a childhood fan of Newcastle United, attending matches with his dad in the 1960s.<\/p>\n

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\"Tony<\/figure>\n<\/div>
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Tony Blair(Image: AFP via Getty Images)<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

He famously traded headers with club manager Kevin Keegan at the 1995 Labour Party Conference in Brighton.<\/p>\n

Gordon Brown:<\/strong> The Labour PM from 2007 to 2010 has supported Scottish club Raith Rovers since he was a kid when he sold matchday programmes. He used his own cash to help save them in the Noughties and said: \u201cI\u2019d love to have been manager.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"David<\/figure>\n<\/div>
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David Cameron has definitely heard of this ‘football’(Image: PA)<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

David Cameron:<\/strong> In 2015 the Tory PM had to apologise for a \u201cbrain fade\u201d after saying he supported West Ham during a speech when he\u2019d previously declared his allegiance to Aston Villa. He insisted: \u201cI’m a Villa fan!\u201d<\/p>\n

Liz Truss<\/strong> : Despite growing up in Leeds, the Tory leader, who had a blink and you\u2019ll miss it premiership in 2022, became a Norwich City fan. She used to be a Norfolk MP and said: \u201cThey’re a fine family club.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Liz<\/figure>\n<\/div>
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Liz Truss(Image: Getty Images)<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Rishi Sunak<\/strong> : The former Conservative leader has recalled sitting on a booster seat at The Dell to support the Saints as a child. His favourite player was Matt Le Tissier. He has also said: \u201cIf I could run Southampton Football Club, I would be a very happy man.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keir Starmer<\/strong> : After Arsenal won the Premier League title this season the outgoing PM and lifelong Gooner said: \u201c22 long years for the Arsenal.<\/p>\n

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\"Starmer<\/figure>\n<\/div>
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Starmer watching football(Image: (Photo by Glyn KIRK \/ AFP via Getty Images) )<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cBut finally, we’re back where we belong. Champions!\u201d<\/p>\n

For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our<\/em> newsletters<\/u><\/em>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Prime Minister Andy Burnham is the first Everton fan in Number 10 \u2013 and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21001,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21000"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21000\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}