Where was Andy Burnham in 2019, when Jeremy Corbyn who defeated him for the Labour leadership led the party to disaster, handing the keys to Number 10 to Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak? Where was he in 2024, when Keir Starmer led Labour to its first general election win since 2005? Why, he was the Mayor of Greater Manchester, the King of the North. Now, it seems he will be our next Prime Minister. Given I supported him against Corbyn, why am I so miffed today?
All in all, this is a good government. Yes, there have been missteps along the way, like the temporary ending of the winter fuel allowance, followed by restricting it to the less well-off (good policy, crap politics), but the improvements to public services including the NHS and bringing the railways back into public ownership, among many other things, have made Britain better.
In 2019, I campaigned for Keir Starmer to be Labour leader. I voted for him to become leader. In 2024, I was out there on the doorstep, among other places, campaigning for a Labour government under Starmer. In 2026, Josh Simons resigned his Makerfield seat in order to allow Burnham to come back to parliament as an MP and, obviously, as PM to replace Starmer. Wes Streeting quit as health secretary, attacking the PM at the same time. Burnham won the by-election engineered on his behalf, Starmer has announced his resignation today. What the fuck is going on?
I would like to know the answers to these questions:
- What, if anything, was Josh Simons offered in order to stand aside for Burnham?
- What, if anything, was Streeting promised in return for resigning from Starmer’s government and supporting Burnham?
I know that in the UK we elect governments, not prime ministers, and it is not unusual for PMs to change during parliaments. But Burnham was not part of Starmer’s version of Labour’s manifesto from 2024. Does he intend to fulfil it or do something very different? More importantly to me, what about this question:
- I have paid a lot of money to Labour during my lifetime and particularly in recent years. Much, if not all of it, was to support the candidature of Keir Starmer as Labour leader and prime minister. Labour MPs have effectively forced Starmer out. Does my vote as a grassroots member matter, or does the party just want my money and for me to shut up? If Burnham, or whoever the next leader is (it’s obviously Burnham so let’s forget that bit), wants me to help him over the next three years, he’d better tell me and other Labour activists know what he thinks of us. I can’t think it’s very much at the moment.
Yes, I am angry. I have always voted Labour, even when Tony Benn was wrecking the party in the 1980s and when Jeremy Corbyn was its accidental and utterly useless leader. Even a Labour Party led by an idiot like Corbyn was better than the Tories. I always will vote Labour. But by fuck, I want Burnham and his cronies to tell me why after what they have done to end the political career of a man I have loyally supported since he put his name forward. Starmer, whatever you think of him, was there to serve. After what has happened, I need to be convinced that Burnham is, too. I have nothing against career politicians – well, some of them, and he is one of them but at what cost?
I’ll probably come around eventually, given that the choice in three years time will be between Labour and a raft of far right, basically fascist parties beating at the door of power, but I am confident that days of being active in politics are over and that unless Burnham and his cronies can convince me that it’s not just my money they want, they won’t be getting any more of that, either.
History, I suggest, will treat Keir Starmer well, as I say a decent and honest man who just wanted to serve his country. I think he should have been given the chance to serve the full term he was elected for. I’ve done my bit defending him. When things start getting messy for Burnham, I hope his cheerleaders do the same for him.
My big fear is that Nigel Farage’s far right business, Reform Party UK Ltd, which masquerades as a political party, gets into power in 2029, if not before. I fear today’s events have made that more, not less, likely and that if we are eventually led by a far right version of Trump in the UK, Burnham and his allies in the Labour Party, especially the smirking MPs in parliament gathered to greet him today as if he was the returning messiah, must be made to own it.
Andy Burnham’s gamble to become the new prime minister has paid off. He’d better deliver by 2029 or we’re all fucked. And don’t you let him forget it.
