Burnham unopposed & likely to be PM by mid July

I’m afraid that I see things differently - irrespective of who is in the cabinet, this Labour government is run by the back benches and the unions. There is therefore no hope of meaningful reform.

Burnham is a caretaker/hostage, as you prefer, and his downfall is merely a function of time - as ‘two-year Starmer’s’ was.

“The minute he stops the triple lock or takes the £10bn out of benefits to fund defence he will become less popular with many people.”

He has to do some of this. There is not really a choice. The extra child benefit should also go to schools where it actually makes a difference to children as it is handled by professionals.
They soften it with pension credit availability and other stuff.
If you put extra child benefit into schools and hire more staff, you also get the economy growing at the same time.

I am not concerned about Burnham going in anymore. If he doesn’t it is just another royal waste of time and uncertainty for longer, which drags us all down and increases national debt! The IMF have already warned us, he cannot spend more. He has to find money for Defence and spend very wisely there. The only CHANGE that is possible is to reshuffle Starmer’s shitty cabinet dead weight and put in strong characters who can actually lead and make the tough and very smart decisions to effect the real change the country needs.

The NEU has concluded: “Educators have lost confidence in Bridget Phillipson, and Labour members have lost confidence in the government's direction. The party as a whole needs a fundamental change of direction, starting with education. That means new leadership at the top of the party and new leadership in the Department for Education.”

Same for Reeves, but he has to be careful who he appoints as if seen as too left it will be even more of a bond crisis than last time.

And then he needs to let those new cabinet ministers lead effectively. There are some good strong characters in the Labour Party who can do it, Burnham literally just needs to not feel threatened by them and pick the right ones. That is the Change we need.

Probably the same reason many politians gets more popular when they leave parliament. He hasn't had to make any difficult decisions for a while. Being a mayor is much more about pet projects than balancing the books - the core work is done my the elected council. The minute he stops the triple lock or takes the £10bn out of benefits to fund defence he will become less popular with many people.

It’s all relative.

If some people like him, may I suggest it’s because they have fallen for his northern schtick?

Or, more simply - he’s not Starmer.

You mean likable to the public? Why do people like him?

It was 1990

If you reread my post, BP’s mother sold her house in 1990, under Thatcher’s RTB scheme.

You can see both the irony, and the hypocrisy, I hope?

Yes but that wasn't the start was it.

Tenants could but before as well.

Thatcher’s RTB was introduced in 1980.

You know that, right?

You do know you could buy council houses before 1979?

All rather ironic given the ‘spiteful class warrior’s’ dislike of Thatcher.

Actually, I don’t give a damn what Bridget Philippson’s mother did or did not do nor where she Bridget went to school. All I want to know is that she is excellent at her job and delivers for State Education. She has not, she has failed State Education.
It is a pathetic state of affairs that none of these people have achieved anything in real life job wise relevant to the sector they are meant to deliver for, to the point that all they have to talk about is what type of school their grandmother’s uncle’s dog went to in the 1920s.

Yes, funny that…

They get to say a successful black woman is irrelevant because Labour. Crickets

Idk how she put up with it. Tg he’s gone.

£9,600 in 1990?

That reflects both a large discount for long temr renting and an area where house prices were rock bottom.

My father used to watch Dad’s Army, it became very stale and dull in the later series from what I could tell. A bit like …eh yes, you guessed it right. The Labour Party.
Andy Burnham if he has any sense at all will realise he has to reinvent without spending and has to replace the tedious front line characters dragging us all down collectively.
Don’t Panic - it is possible he can do it. Nothing could be worse than Reeves and Phillipson playing good little stereotype women for the party.

@Araminta1003 most people do not even fit into your narrow outdated stereotypes from the 1970s anymore anyway

Evidently, its OK if a white male says it….

Sad day for democracy really ...

Boris used the same phrase in 2021.

Why have you ignored that?

Yep Labour are still very pair, male, stale when it come to leadership too. Very stuck in the past.

"don't like it up them" Kemi Badenoch, 24/06/2026. House of Commons

The point though is stop trying to fit people into narrow white British class stereotypes when there is so much diversity now and everyone counts and most people do not even fit into your narrow outdated stereotypes from the 1970s anymore anyway. Suck it up, society has changed, not anyone’s problem that Labour are stuck in the past.