The right wing press continues its campaign against Andy Burnham

Burnham had been invited by its founders as a long-time supporter of the project for an event which organisers had stressed was not “intended to be a political event or platform for campaigning”.

But that didn’t stop Calgie from seeking out the Labour man – only to be understandably turned away and filing a “woe-is-me” story about how badly he had been treated. 

The Mail man wrote of Burnham: “He did not seem to want to engage. In fact, he appeared furious and fumed: ‘You don’t go into a place like that unannounced! You’re out of order there!’

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“When I protested that I was merely on Nigel Farage’s campaign trail and that the encounter had not been planned, Mr Burnham raged: ‘I know who you are but you should not do that. You should have boundaries. I’m not going to do a friendly, matey, this that or the other. You need to be told.’

“I could not understand why he was so angry and asked if he was taking lessons from Donald Trump by launching personal attacks on journalists for doing their jobs. ‘The press does not walk in like that,’ he responded. ‘If you’re going in with the media and a political party, you do not waltz into a place like that.”

Burnham has since responded by posting on X a letter from Gemma Crompton, founder and director of The Hamlet Wigan CIC, to Farage, objecting to how he and his team also turned up to the event uninvited, taking photographs and footage of vulnerable youngsters without asking permission.

“Organisations supporting vulnerable young adults should never be placed in a position where political leaders and campaign teams arrive unannounced with significant media presence and security personnel,” she wrote.

“Clear signage is displayed throughout our cafe requesting that no photographs or filming take place involving our trainees. Unfortunately, filming and photography took place without consent being requested, causing significant safeguarding concerns for our staff and families.” 

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Burnham added in his post: “Mr @christiancalgiehas been busy putting out a partial version of events these last few days, amplified by yourselves. I think it’s time all your readers had the whole story. They were all out of order and, if they had any decency, would now hold their hands up and apologise.”

Perhaps one would expect nothing less from the oafish Calgie, who joined the Mail from the Daily Express last month. He is best remembered there for publicly endorsing a call for Birmingham-born Muslim MP Zarah Sultana to be deported, something which several members of staff at the Daily Mirror – with whom the Express shares a publisher, Reach, and an office in Canary Wharf – made their displeasure with clear.

He was initially appointed “senior political editor-at-large” at the Mail, but that was later downgraded to his current title, apparently after more seasoned journalists wondered why a relatively inexperienced 29-year-old was handed such a grandiose role.

Meanwhile, Calgie was not the first right wing hack Burnham has had a run-in with on the Makerfield campaign trail. On Thursday, the Express ran with the headline ‘We confronted Andy Burnham about his Brexit U-turn – his tetchy reaction says it all’ after he declined to give an interview to its reporter Aaron Newbury while out running.

The other connection Newbury has to Calgie is that he is also a campaigner rather than an actual journalist – he joined the Express in January from his role as a full-time press officer for the Conservative Party, despite having no reporting experience whatsoever.