No thread yet for the prodigal mp?
Have at it.
Giving you a like as you stuck to political thread protocol with the exclamation marks. 😁
He'll hand the next general election to reform. Or at least a hung parliament.
We need to know which version were going to get - man of the people/nationalisation Burnham or in talks with ex-BoE economists Burnham.
He's never been my favourite but he at least knows we're shafted with Starmer and when he talks he at least sounds like he means it.
Starmer has lost nearly everyone. Anyone who says he a decent man hasn't looked at his terrible track record. Luckily for Burnham and I've been saying for a couple of months I think Reform are exhausted by their own logic and there's an element of voters starting to see they might not be a reliable option.
Starmer though, can't go quick enough so I'm willing to give Burnham the last chance saloon.
Less 'fake managerial we can't do anything style' and more let's fix the stuff that counts - please.
Burnham is also one of the first mainstream politicians to point out Neoliberalism doesn't work for the majority.
That's the absolute crux of the majority of our problems.
What he does about it ...
Burnham is also one of the first mainstream politicians to point out Neoliberalism doesn't work for the majority.
For me, IF he becomes PM, the proof of the pudding will be who he puts in his cabinet. If Labour Together/ Blue Labour poster children Reeves or Mahmood are anywhere near it then I think it’ll, unfortunately be, business as usual.
He'll hand the next general election to reform. Or at least a hung parliament.
That was absolutely inevitable under Starmer so the status quo wasn't an option. He can't be less appealing to reform voters than Starmer and he certainly seems to have taken a few of their votes in the by-election.
The jury is out for me, he has made a lot of the right noises from his mayoral office, but will he have the courage to make the necessary big changes once he's in No.10?
Will Burnham+Simons be any different from Starmer+McSweeney ?
The country is crumbling because the economy is shagged. The factors that are causing that are pretty much outside of a national governments control. So, regardless of who's the PM and want they want to achieve, they will havee all the same problems and limitations as Starmer. There's no magic bullet.
I don't understand why anyone would want to be PM. The desire to be PM disqualifies all contenders
"To summarise: it is a well-known fact that those people who most want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it.
To summarise the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.”
Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
That was absolutely inevitable under Starmer
I don't think it was, they've lost the last three by-elections they've stood in, most often specifically by people voting not necessarily for their chosen party, but to ensure that Reform are kept from winning. In some places where they're in power and local folks have an opportunity to remove them, they do.
Makerfield was a target seat for Reform that they hoped to win in the next GE -I think it was in their top100 target seats, and they lost votes (astoundingly) to an insurgent right-wing party that was created specifically because Farage can't stand being criticised, and up in Aberdeen, the Tories took a seat from the SNP. Reform look like they're being attacked by both sides of the right, and because Reform is essentially just a vehicle for the enrichment of Farage, it won't be able to counter it as it doesn't have a grass roots movement or leadership that is ideologically consistent and coherent.
He's not the messiah
"He's a very Northern boy"
[ taken from Dead Ringers ]
He's not the messiah
But he’s not Sir Kier Starmer, so that’s one win for him in the eyes of the public.
TJ rates him.
Will Burnham+Simons be any different from Starmer+McSweeney ?
McSweeney is a weapons grade idiot with no idea where Lab’s actual electoral coalition lies, and I think one of the many straws which broke the camel’s back was Starmer bringing him back in informally after the locals. You’d hope Burnham is slightly more aware on this front.
TJ rates him.
He’s easy to admire from a distance, but the fact remains for all his talk about nationalising public services, he remains the only SoSH to privatise an NHS trust, he folded on the GM Clean Air zone in the face of a very small but very noisy minority of people who will never vote Labour, with ongoing consequences for the health of the city region, and the much vaunted Bee Network stalled when Chris Boardman moved on, and then the branding got repurposed for buses.
On the other hand, he is a much better communicator and people person, and one of Starmer’s failings is an inability to communicate the good things the government has been doing, as well as seeming to unerringly choose the course of action that doesn't go far enough for the base but causes the RW to lose its shit, thus upsetting everyone. Hopefully we will have less of that too…
TJ rates him.
I rate him too - would have no issues with him as Prime Minister.
What's really disappointing is this feels like the same Tory circus under a different banner. Another change of leadership, another round of pass the parcel, another round of bills sitting in Parliament while nothing happens because the circus is choosing a new clown (to be clear, I don't think Burnham is a clown at all, it's just a metaphor).
Starmer was supposed to be a breath of fresh air, a landslide win after the entire universe was sick to death of Tory corruption. Instead we got dithery, fence-sitting platitudes, pandering to Reform, ever-more shift to the right and it wasn't too long before the first cracks appeared.
Rather than a new leader, it feels like the entire country needs to be stopped and a big reset button pushed.
A rope?
I.just don't think Burnham appeals to the whole country. The right wing media have fed the easily led this lie that Farage etc are their saviour - even if he'll monerterise the NHS.
Wasn’t Fishy Rishy over in the states trying to flog the NHS to private American healthcare companies when he was prime minister?
I don’t think he’s politically much different to Starmer. And will have less appeal out with ‘the north.’ Hopefully he’s a bit more decisive though, Starmer is such a dithering clown.
Will he achieve any more than Starmer? Who knows, maybe not but what he will do is communicate better and deliver a speech without sounding like your auntie Pam having a moan.
No idea how he became so detested almost straight after the election but without doubt Starmer had become election suicide for Labour.
Will he achieve any more than Starmer? Who knows, maybe not but what he will do is communicate better and deliver a speech without sounding like your auntie Pam having a moan.
This. He’s apparently charming and good company in private, but comes across as so wooden in public. Even stuff where he’s authentic like his background and his love of football comes across as stilted and fake…
Can we have a sweep on how many times the word dogwhistle will appear in this thread?
More than once I reckon.
winter fuel allowance was the real trigger (gaza didn't help, but in reality there was fk all he could have done on that one)
WFA Being means tested absolutely made sense but it was poorly executed and terribly communicated, likewise benefit cuts etc
You'd hope Burnham would be less likely to step on similar rakes
And a whole load of international shit. Much of it connected to Trump round 2. I’ll be honest, I’m surprised that the UK economy and society has remained as stable as it has. The current gov will get no credit for that. And nor will Burnham if he does enough to weather the storms still coming. People want a miracle, no matter what’s going on in the world. Burnham can’t deliver them. Better communication and not being from London might mean he’s well received in parliament and with the public… there is no chance of that lasting 2 years though. None.
People want a miracle, no matter what’s going on in the world. Burnham can’t deliver them. Better communication and not being from London might mean he’s well received in parliament and with the public… there is no chance of that lasting 2 years though. None.
This happens even at local (devolved authority) level. People constantly getting in touch about the really minor stuff, not the big picture, the strategic view, the long-term goal. But then so much of Government fails at that too, everyone is looking 3-4 years ahead and knows full well that what they do now that might take 10 years to deliver could be ripped to shreds within weeks of the next General Election. See HS2 as a prime example of actually a really good and desperately needed scheme developed under Labour and then repeatedly ****ed over by the Tories while being really poorly communicated.
Everyone wants a solution, they want it yesterday and for free.
I think there needs to be a very long term educational fix for the nation explaining that no, you cannot cut taxes and increase public spending, you cannot build a bypass / railway in a couple of weeks and you cannot slogan your way out of this.
Everyone wants a solution, they want it yesterday and for free.
To be fair it doesn't have to be free, as long as someone else pays for it.
WFA Being means tested absolutely made sense but it was poorly executed and terribly communicated, likewise benefit cuts etc
not teally. Saves very little money and means some folk who need it miss out.
(gaza didn't help, but in reality there was fk all he could have done on that one)
(gaza didn't help, but in reality there was fk all he could have done on that one)
He could have condemned the genocide rather than giving Isreal carte blanch
duplicate
I guess this belongs here seeing as it was Josh Simons who was forced to resign his seat after Peters investigation which allowed Burnham to stand
Such a circular web is spun to allow a blairite to stand, same shit….different day
Josh Simons who was forced to resign his seat after Peters investigation
he resigned as a PPS , the most junior ministerial role, rightly too imo. But he had no need to resign as an MP, and only did so for Burnham to stand.
This isn't a detail. Whatever you think of the guy this was quite a gamble for him to resign as an MP, as it was for Burnham too to stand. (And as it was for Streeting to go over the top, to name another hate figure for some of the more tediously predictable on here 😊.)
How many of us were saying Burnham would walk it with an overwhelming win? This speaks looks like a bunch of folks winging it as best they can to keep Reform at bay, not the remorseless advance of the billionaires.
WFA Being means tested absolutely made sense but it was poorly executed and terribly communicated, likewise benefit cuts etc
not teally. Saves very little money and means some folk who need it miss out.
Couldn't it be handled the same way as the Scottish Pension Age Winter Heating Payment? Give it to all that might qualify and then recoup it in taxation from those earning above the cut-off.
And a whole load of international shit. Much of it connected to Trump round 2. I’ll be honest, I’m surprised that the UK economy and society has remained as stable as it has. The current gov will get no credit for that. And nor will Burnham if he does enough to weather the storms still coming. People want a miracle, no matter what’s going on in the world. Burnham can’t deliver them. Better communication and not being from London might mean he’s well received in parliament and with the public… there is no chance of that lasting 2 years though. None.
Er I’m assuming he’s not the son of a toolmaker but if he plays his act well he should be able to nobble Farages man of the people anti elite 🍺 bs.
Hopefully he’s not in the process of buying any houses or getting any free clothes.
winter fuel allowance was the real trigger (gaza didn't help, but in reality there was fk all he could have done on that one)
WFA Being means tested absolutely made sense but it was poorly executed and terribly communicated, likewise benefit cuts etc
You'd hope Burnham would be less likely to step on similar rakes
It was literally political suicide for no return, the administration costs would have probably negated any benefit.
He's sorted our BUS issues out in Manchester but there is the right royal fark up with the ULEZ zone, which was massive, given that Manchester City Centre is quite small. The ULEZ went out into the Peaks. All the cameras were installed at massive cost. Live in Hayfield, and want to move your 'camper', that will be £10.
Hopefully he’s not in the process of buying any houses or getting any free clothes.
Similar minor shit will be found on Burnham, football and Glastonbury tickets and the like. While Johnson and Farage count their ill gotten millions.
Give it 6 months and he’ll be as unpopular as Starmer.
Question now is who is going to be the new Mayor of Manchester?!
Burnham was really good, he'd been in place long enough to make a difference, to see things through. It's still not perfect by any means but the bus and tram networks are great, the active travel provision has massively improved, there's good regeneration and he was spot on at campaigning for more resources for the North.
I'm gutted he's gone as Mayor. I just hope the next Mayor doesn't undo all the good work that he started. Don't want some Reform **** who's going to rip up agreements and infrastructure just because Burnham did them.
Hopefully as MP for a Manchester region, he'll still have some involvement.
@crazy-legs Barring some sort of disaster on Labour’s part, it’ll be Bev Craig. By all accounts she’s able.
