Would you be more likely to vote Labour if Andy Burnham was in charge?

[QueenStevie]

As the title says really.

I certainly would. I have had massive amounts of respect for Andy Burnham since he spoke at the Hillsborough memorial and was changed at by the crowd and you could see how he took it and how it registered with him and, from then on, he took on the fight and ran with it.

I have also been really impressed by what he has achieved in Greater Manchester. If he'd have been able to stand in the Gorton and Denton by election, I have no doubt he would have won. I worry now that the ship has sailed though and Labour have just been discredited so much that even Burnham might not win a by-election.

Not just Diane but every other woman who has ever stood for the Labour leadership or ever had potential to do so.

True.

He's one man. He's far more competent and charismatic than KS. Probably more honest too. But the Labour back bench mps will still be there blocking anyone getting control of the welfare budget which we literally cannot afford.
Until wider Labour accept that financially something needs to change, it won't make any difference to the economy.
And the economy is what brings in the money and makes everything else possible.

Some of the posts on KB rival those for DA anyway.

If there weren’t so many wars and so much economic uncertainty, then maybe. But as it stands, no!

The Labour Party are a bunch of collective idiots. The centre ground has literally been wide open for the taking like never before, yet they have refused to take it! Lead a horse to water and all that. Not sure any leader can change the deep thinking there.

He isn’t an elected MP. I have read stories today about moves in the Labour camp to bring him back so he can challenge the leadership. But how can they do this when he isn’t an elected MP?

Yes
but I think Starmer needs to tough it out for now. He’s petty good at the international diplomatic stuff which is important right now

he did massively fuck up with the Mandelson thing but I don’t think that should be career ending. This country needs a PM who is given a decent amount of time.
Nobody can turn this country around in five years let alone 2.

A greater Manchester mp will stand down and trigger a by election. But the Labour Party might bar him from standing again like they did in Denton

admittedly it would then leave a big Mayor gap which would then be tricky to find a successor to AB
He’s been great for Manchester

I vote Labour anyway. I don’t vote for personality. I vote for policies.

Andy Burnham would get my vote.

Absolutely, as much as I disagree your politics, it really saddens me so many people think they are voting for the pm. When they are voting for the policies.

The person is secondary, their role is being able to have the gravitas the public respect and listen to, and specifically, in labours case, being able to unite the very split party, quell the infighting, and not bow to the pressure they will face from the different factions of their own party, and deal with the very many bad behaviour issues, free loading, tax avoidance, anti semitisim etc from within the Labour cabinet and some of their mps. Starmer has been unable to do that. Hence all the flip flopping and mess of policies. I think everyone knows deep down burnham etc won’t be more successful at that, it will be worse.

anyway, if we ignore the media speculation. The rumour has it, when they saw the election results they all ran for cover and none of them want to do it, including burnham. Starmer will stay on.

It's because of Hillsborough that I like Burnham less. He did nothing for those bereaved families until he was publicly shamed at a memorial service.

He's a consummate politician in terms of charisma and presence (my DH has dealt with him a number of times). I think that's what people want these days.

Starmer should stay - this constant 18mth tenure of a prime minister is damaging for everything. I’m old enough to remember a prime minister serving the whole term, and then sometimes another. Ridiculous the circus that politics has become, no wonder everyone is so disengaged with it, and what idiot would want to be a politician these days!

He is a self-serving individual. All the very obvious manoeuvring to get a safe seat. If this is what the Labour Party needs to do to make themselves re-electable they are doomed.

bring back gordon brown

It’s a weird cranky terrible horseshoe that will meet in the middle.

The greens did well here - what a time to be alive. Terrible people.

Harsh but true. 😂

Yes.

But he would have to really turn things around and so needs to be in no 10 asap otherwise it’s just too late to turn the ship away from the rocks of the next general election.

All so very sad and infuriating.

So much potential wasted after the 2024 election.

Instead we now have left wing extremism in the Greens and right wing extremism in Reform.

Stop the world, I want to get off.

It was Starmer himself throwing out ridiculous sound bites like 'our work is urgent' at the start that set the public's expectation to deliver rapidly. The bleating from the government about needing a second term in office only started when the public's growing anger about their lack of performance became clear.

I might consider it if he agreed to junk Bridget Phillipson's dreadful proposed reforms to the SEND system.

I would have as I've always been an admirer. But now he's just proving himself to be a player like the rest of them.

He would gladly leave the people of Manchester high and dry. I'm quite disappointed in him actually.

Seriously? If that’s the Labour Party’s idea of saving themselves, they really are headed for extinction.

It was all over the press that Starmer is bringing Brown and Harman in. The point is Starmer is a small c guy, that is why Labour got in and Labour members still won’t acknowledge it. So daft.

Never interrupt your enemy when they are in the middle of making (another) mistake etc…

Currently Labour are ignoring things that matter to me (the environment, social care) and making decisions I disagree with on things that I'm directly impacted by (SEN provision, the NHS). So a leader I perceive as more centre left or left is more likely to get my vote. So I am more likely to vote for a Labour party led by Andy Burnham or Ed Milliband and I suspect it would have to be the only way of stopping Reform before I voted for Labour under Streeting.

From my experience at work and that of former colleagues in the NHS they are far more focused on balancing the books and driving growth than anyone is giving them credit for. There are major programmes aimed at driving growth underway. They are also taking significant action on immigration which isn't being talked about.

So I think they probably do need a personality at the top, someone who can get the media onside or defeat the medias obvious bias.