AIBU to think Andy Burnham might call a general election soon?

If the deviations are popular and lead to good outcomes for more people than don't like them, there will be no problem at all. It will be considered to be a positive change in direction after listening to people.

I broadly agree, except are there even polls to suggest Reform getting the highest number of seats? The most recent show them getting the highest number of votes but it's very difficult to factor in how successful tactical voting will be. We know it's going to be very much a thing, but not the extent.

(I don't think Burnham will call a GE soon either, just interested).

You’re missing the change in social media in recent years. It’s become much more powerful in its impact on politics.

It was something Labour used to their advantage and there were no limits on that. The call for limits now are hypocritical and won’t work. So yes you set the scene, or you reap what you sow if the first can’t be taken in.

You’re also limiting your posts to Labour comms only when it’s of course much broader than that and includes supporters online. Who now apparently don’t like the same back at them.

You haven't proved anything.

There is no definition of set the scene that could be applied either to Labour continuing an already established (stupid) custom when they were last in opposition or to their use of social media for political communications. You overshot, and looked desperate in doing so.

He has the look of a bottler.

I have known a few bottlers in my time, and Burnham definitely has that look about him.

That’s a fair point. But he’s got a real problem if he deviates from the manifesto to the extent that he seems to be proposing. He would need a fresh mandate.

Right, and he might calculate that Farage, with his current travails, is vulnerable.

The irony being of course - just as Labour won the GE 2024 by lying and simply by virtue they weren’t the Tories, could see Labour out in the same way.

If he’s going to say he gets people are fed up with upheaval, as he did in that speech, he should stick to that and not call a GE.

😆 🤣

If he calls an election now he could capitalise on the initial poll bounce he’s getting. There’s a chance he could win and then he’d actually have a mandate.

When did the COL crisis begin? Who was in government?

You haven’t rebutted anything. It’s pointless to continue.

He wouldn't. I was answering PPs claim he would lose if he called a GE now, when polls suggest hung with a Reform majority.
He wouldn't choose a coalition over a majority. He would almost certainly choose one over a Reform/Tory majority government. So will no doubt have to time things carefully.

Well, if the Manchester bus timetable slips, there is only one bloke to fix it, right?

Wouldn't surprise me.

Best of both worlds Burnham.

Call me a sadomasochist, but I just watched the rest of Starmer’s speech.

I had to chuckle at 'my work is done' and was left wondering whether his father remarked similarly when he made a two-legged chair, for example.

That doesn't make what you said about scene setting right, or the other points relevant to whether Labour and supporters were setting the scene. It's not that hard to discern that you were wrong when you claimed that, and that you keep trying to move the goalposts.

It remains a fact that calling for a GE when a PM is installed without one was well established before Labour's last period in opposition, and that they lacked the power or influence to set the scene in the sense of the move towards greater social media. They could not therefore have set the scene.

Half of me thinks that Burnham has one eye on returning to Manchester as mayor, when his current tenure blows up….

Of course Labour would lose, which is why there’ll be no election. It’s utterly ridiculous to claim Labour has any meaningful support, quite the opposite. This is the last we’ll see of Labour for a very long time, he’s not going to waste their last few years,
https://www.bbc.com/news/election/2026/england/results

The groups of people with the highest number of Labour voters were those earning over £50k, so the top 2 demographics in 2024. Most Labour ( and Green) voters are University educated fairly wealthy people. As are most Labour members.
https://yougov.com/en-gb/articles/49978-how-britain-voted-in-the-2024-general-election.

The level of scrutiny running for a provincial mayoral post is totally different to the level of scrutiny he’ll get as UK pm. Surely that’s obvious. I am really concerned how some people are seem to think that Manchester is some sort of big deal. It’s not even our second city 🤷🏼‍♂️. The idea that it provides some sort of blueprint for running the entire UK is bonkers.

Oh my. Labour including supporters, given I’m talking about SM use it’s not that hard to discern.

It is wrong. Once again you're moving the goalposts. The two things you've written here aren't wrong, but they're also completely different points from whether Labour 'set the scene' for this.

It makes the doubling down all the more ill advised, because you could've made the point about hypocrisy without tying it to an obviously foolish claim about scene setting that you can't possibly back up.

You said he hadn’t had any scrutiny. He has. The scrutiny that really matters. Three times with an increased approval rating each time.