Quick Answer: Yes, he has. The tattoo is a Manchester worker bee on his right upper arm, inked after the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing. It’s there for the 22 people who never came home that night.
Sleeves down, nobody’s any the wiser. Sleeves up, and there it is. So does Andy Burnham have a tattoo?
- A single Manchester worker bee, the city’s emblem of graft, industry and solidarity.
- It is on his right bicep, on the upper arm.
- First widely seen at the Great Manchester Run on 22 May 2022, the fifth anniversary of the attack.
- Seen again at the start line of the 2026 Great Manchester Run on 31 May.
- No other tattoos have ever been photographed or confirmed.
The Bee on His Right Arm
It’s a simple bee. The same one you’ll clock on the bins, the bollards, the trams, and the pub walls. No dates. No names curled round it. No fancy shading.
And it is inked high up on the right arm, which is why nobody sees it. Put a suit on him, and the bee vanishes. He has to properly yank his sleeve up to show it, and that basically happens on race day only.
Why He Chose the Worker Bee
Rewind to 22 May 2017. An Ariana Grande show at Manchester Arena, thousands of kids and parents heading for the doors, and at 10.31 pm, a bomb explodes. Twenty-two people were killed, five of them children. Hundreds injured. The bomber, Salman Abedi, was 22 and a Manchester lad himself.
Burnham had been mayor of Greater Manchester for about two weeks. Two weeks. He was sitting at home in a sweaty five-a-side kit watching Newsnight when the phone rang, as The Guardian’s big profile of his Manchester years lays out. Steve Rotheram was screaming down the line about his girls being in town.
By morning the bee was the city’s symbol. People queued round the block for one. So it’s not a branding job. He got his bee the way the bloke behind the bar in Ancoats got his.
Also read: Who Is Andy Burnham? The Personal Story Behind Britain’s Next Prime Minister
When Did He Get the Tattoo?
He got it in 2019, when Ariana Grande returned to Manchester to perform at the city’s Pride festival, two years after the Manchester Arena bombing. The bee is Manchester’s civic emblem and became a powerful symbol of solidarity after the 2017 attack.
Most of that rush came from one man with a needle. The Mill’s deep dive into the bee’s story credits tattoo artist Sam Barber, who was handing out bee tattoos to raise cash for the victims and their families. Illustrator Dick Vincent’s “Stay Strong, Our Kid” bee was circulating on Instagram at the same time. Studios were booked solid for weeks.
Did Andy Burnham Show His Tattoo in Public?
Barely ever. The big one was Sunday 22 May 2022. Five years to the day. Perspective Media caught him hoiking his sleeve up at the Great Manchester Run, bee out, grinning.
First anniversary in three years with no Covid rules attached. More than 20,000 runners applauded the 22 victims before the pistol went. Bells tolled at 10.31 pm. The cathedral held services at the Glade of Light memorial.
He was pictured that morning with Freya Lewis, then 19, who had to learn to walk again after suffering multiple injuries, fractures and burns. Three months in a wheelchair. Her best friend Nell Jones was 14 when she was killed.
Freya ran for the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital Charity — the team who saved her life — and her family has raised over £67,000 since the attack. She told BBC Breakfast that morning that Manchester means the world to her.
Burnham’s own post that day was short. Pictures of the Glade of Light and the line, “Their names forever at the heart of our city.”
The 2026 Run and the Row That Followed
Out came the sleeve again on 31 May 2026, at the start line of the Great Manchester Run. This time? Absolute uproar. Because by then he was the favourite to be running the country.
An Independent column had a proper giggle at the pose — he had to manually pull his T-shirt up his arm for a little peekaboo, no magic flex involved — and reckoned the picture split the internet clean down the middle. Camp one: a bit much, mate. Camp two: relax. Winston Churchill had an anchor inked near his right shoulder. Same piece clocked his 10k at a very respectable 53 minutes.
There was a scrap on the side too. LBC covered him firing off his running times after a paper suggested the jogging was all for show. For the record: London Marathon 2014, Boston Marathon 2019. The man runs.
Seven weeks later, on 20 July 2026, he walked into Downing Street as Prime Minister. Bee still on the arm.
Also read: Andy Burnham Linked to Gorton and Denton Seat After Gwynne Resignation
Why the Bee Carries So Much Weight
The bee is older than all of these species by a long way. Seven of them landed on Manchester’s coat of arms in 1842, standing for busy free trade. As per Manchester Mill, Beehive Mill in Ancoats was built even earlier, in 1824.
Gareth Hacking’s Manchester Bees project has spent years hunting them down across the city and links the symbol to the Oddfellows – a friendly society that adopted the beehive as its calling card in 1810. Then the bee went quiet for a century or so. It crept back through bollards, coffee shop logos and Northern Quarter graffiti.
After 2017, it was everywhere. Manchester City Council quietly trademarked the versions it could claim in June 2017, then only announced it in March 2018 once the objection window had shut. Businesses now cough up £500 to use it, with royalties going to chosen charities. And Burnham’s transport network nicked the name too; the bright yellow Bee Network buses started rolling in 2023.
The Tattoo, in Four Dates
- May 2017: Arena attack. Bee appeals kick off. Burnham joins a queue.
- May 2022: sleeve up, bee photographed at the fifth anniversary run.
- May 2026: sleeve up again. The internet loses the plot.
- July 2026: Prime Minister. Same bee.
FAQs
Q. Does Andy Burnham have a tattoo?
A. He does. It is a Manchester worker bee tattoo on his right upper arm. The bee is Manchester’s civic emblem and became a powerful symbol of solidarity.
Q. Which arm is it on?
A. The right one, high up near the bicep. That’s why he has to lift his sleeve before anyone can see it.
Q. When did he get the bee tattoo?
A. He got it in 2019, when Ariana Grande returned to Manchester to perform at the city’s Pride festival, two years after the Manchester Arena bombing.
Q. What does the Manchester worker bee mean?
A. Hard work, industry and solidarity. It’s been linked to the city since the 1842 coat of arms and became a symbol of unity after the Arena attack.
Q. Where has he shown it off?
A. Most famously at the Great Manchester Run on 22 May 2022, the fifth anniversary, and again at the 2026 race.
Q. Does the PM have any other tattoos?
A. None that’s been verified. The bee is the only ink anyone’s ever seen or reported.
Sources & References:
- Perspective – Andy was seen hoiking his sleeve up at the Great Manchester Run on Sunday, 22 May 2022.
- Independent – Andy had to manually pull his T-shirt up his arm for a peekaboo of his tattoo.
- Manchester Mill – Beehive Mill in Ancoats was built in 1824.
- The Guardian – When the bombs exploded on 22 May 2017, Andy was the mayor of Greater Manchester for about two weeks.
