What is so great about Andy Burnham?

[jeanne16]

Just that really. I keep hearing what a great job he has done as mayor but never hear any examples of what he has done.

Btw Boris Johnson was quite a successful mayor of London and we all know how that turned out.

His eyelashes slay tbf.

Whatever it is (and I quite like him as someone who lives nowhere near Manchester) the press and public will find a myriad of ways to pick holes in him and tear him down like they do every other political figure.
For that reason I hope he stays away.

He’s massively improved public transport with the Bee Network.
hes very vocal/outspoken In trying to get National type funding for Manchester/promoting it as a northern powerhouse.
manchester is totally buzzing these days, a lot of investment, lot of building work, shops opening, cafes opening, people moving here.
lots of regeneration which he’s been pivotal in getting investors to kick off.
lots of adult skills development which he’s secured funding for and champions.
he speaks passionately about homelessness and donates part of his annual salary for charity. Most people locally see him as down to earth and genuine in listening to people and doing his best.
everyone locally loves how he stood up to Boris regarding Covid money for furloughed workers. Boris was threatening to cut money for Manchester if Burnham didn’t do as told about a tier lock down and Burnham took him on.

Boris Johnson TOLD people he was a successful mayor - Boris bikes should have been called Ken cycles - same goes for the Olympics, Livingstone did all of the hard yards, Johnson just swooped in for the plaudits. He cut the fire brigade and wasted £43m on the Garden Bridge, £300m on the new Routemaster and a further £300m on German water guns that weren't licensed for use in the UK. And don't get me started on setting the threshold for affordable housing at 80% of market rent and cancelling the congestion charge for his rich mates in the West. He was objectively a terrible, terrible mayor. I lived there then.

I like Burnham - when he was an MP and the Shadow Health Secretary he launched Labour's new health policy at the charity I worked for and I was part of the team that helped with the logistics and basically looked after him and his colleagues on the day as I was the public affairs lead. He wrote the loveliest letter to my immediate boss and copied in my CEO singling out my contribution. I like solid, generous and respectful people.

He would be really easy to create from lego

I hope Starmer wins this showdown

🤣🤣

I like him and I think he will make a great prime minister.

but.

I think him and Wes have played this wrong. I think they’re coming across as opportunistic and out for their own careers in the same way we’ve seen from the tories in the last few years. I think with another three years to go until the next election they’ve played their hand too soon. They should have waited a year / 18 months then swapped Starmer for Burnham as labour leader.

doing so now means a) looking the same as the tories b) burnham getting the blame for everything but also c) we need Starmer on an international stage.

Should have done a Blair/Brown transition - I agree.

He would be really easy to create from lego

Love that you said this twice, five minutes apart! John Lewis do good Lego displays - at least the Cardiff one does in the restaurant at Christmas. Hopefully it will be Rhun ap Iowerth this festive time!

He's got charisma, which unfortunately Keir hasn't.

I really think that if Keir had got that personailty he wouldnt be in this mess, In politics, policies are unfortunatley only part of the role.

@Danhausenrocksisn’t that wasting the next 3 years? If they want to speed up the improvements they need someone ready to sign it all off. Just reading Jess Phillips’ resignation on how the work was all done on legislation to protect children online but he wouldn’t sign off on it shows how frustrated many people in government are. If there’s not much to show at the end of the 5 years and they only change leader then, the party doesn’t have achievements to be judged on. I can’t see them getting into power at the next election whatever happens, so they may as well try for better outcomes now.

I do think Burnham is only popular because he isn’t in government, and he’s not part of the Westminster clique. If he’d been an MP he wouldn’t have the novelty and untainted image. If Starmer had let him stand in Gorton and Denton and put him in the cabinet with responsibility for immigration his light wouldn’t be shining quite so brightly

It’s always easier to look like a good PM when you aren’t one.

I’m not saying he wouldn’t be good at it. I just think that the idea he’ll swoop in and make everything great is odd, and a bit “grass is greener”. They wouldn’t like him so much if he was already an MP.

Just been listening to the news on Radio 4 and someone asked about his appeal in a vox pop in Makerfield said 'He's for the people". Another woman said she'd vote for him in a by-election even though she normally votes Conservative.

Honestly I don’t know. But there was no actual leadership challenge in place so I just can’t get my head around why now?

Streeting and Raynor are probably both more disliked than Starmer is, streeting in particular now looks like an utter snake.

honestly, if the media stopped SAYING Starmer is doing a bad job, I think the public,if would feel differently. Yesterday it was announced the economy had grown in the first quarter, more than expected, they’ve reduced NHS lists more than expected, immigration is actually down (despite what the fag ash furher says. His problem as far as I can see is that his communications is so shit.

i would actually like to see Burnham brought in, but as Stamers deputy - that way you could have Starmer for international and Burnham for domestic.

He has that Scouse charisma for sure.

But he is full on board with all the gender nonsense that the greens are obsessed with and no one with those views can run a country that is 51% female - our rights do actually matter. And his mate and former adviser Sasha Lord is corrupt - read the Manchester Mills investigative journalism in this area.

The thought of him becoming PM is already crashing pound and driving up our debt interest. Which is 111bn pa now

PM Andy is awesome

Speaking as a Londoner, Boris Johnson was a bloody awful Mayor. Have we all forgotten Jennifer Arcuri? The Garden Bridge? The water cannons?

Why do the British press do this, constantly look to bring people down? It's so wearing. No-one is perfect.

I don't like how the Labour Party think this is their seat to give away to whoever they like best right now. It's for the electorate to choose their MP, not the Labour Party. They're going to look really stupid if Burnhan doesn't win. And if it were my constituency the petty side of me would vote against him just tk show Labour they don't have any influence over who my MP is.

The truth about the Hillsborough disaster wouldn’t have been found out without him. He’d get my vote.

That's the problem, isn't it @Randomchat ? There is a very very very strong risk that they lose their safe seat to someone else. If Burnham didn't win that by election, what does that tell you? It means they've lost a seat, AND a potential leader. It just seems hugely risky considering they have a mandate for another three years.

He wears embarrassingly short running shorts for a middle aged man..I really can't be having that.