To think Andy Burnham will not make Labour any more electable.

[4thweekofjuly]

I think there is little appetite for a new PM and a new Labour leader will make 0 difference to their chances of winning. I also think the best the public can hope for, from any government, is a slow, well managed decline. I don't think there is much of a future in the UK and the public need to accept the social contract is no more. .

What it will depend on will be how hard the media go in on him. Answer: very hard. Insinuation and exaggeration. No reporting of successes. As we’ve seen with Starmer - and pretty much every Labour leader (PM or not) in recent history.

@topcat2014 and @GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER

Winchester; we just had local elections and the city council is now 36/45 lib-dem: not a single labour bod was elected, the others are independent, tories or green.
The county council is split almost evenly between tory, lib/dem and reform; one 1 labour bod was elected in a handful of one-offs!

As per my OP, changing PMs does not address the issues unless a new PM will lead the cabinet to amend some of the new tax and spend policies. If they can U-turn on winter fuel allowance and triple-lock, surely they can ease some of the decisions affecting the majority of the population.

And for those bemoaning the undignified squabble amongst the labour hopefuls, remember that the tories have done this a few times recently too. Remember what happened after Cameron resigned.

I’m not sure if you’ve read my previous posts, but I’ve explained my thoughts on this there. I know AB also went to Cambridge.

I have two points, which both recap what I said in a previous post:

• I can’t easily find anything online about JS that is not about where he went to uni or the fact he resigned as a minister because of the Labour Together scandal
• Both AB and JS went to Cambridge, which in itself is brilliant and something to be celebrated. I also went to Cambridge from a low-income family. I do agree it’s something to be celebrated. However, I know Reform will capitalise on this, to suggest AB and JS are nothing more than two posh boys who betrayed their communities to go to Cambridge and then job-swap to further their political careers, showing they - unlike Reform - don’t care about their constituents. I know this is just hysteria whipped up by Reform, but it is my big worry. Are you not concerned about this?

Exactly!! This is exactly what I was saying in my post above. The media will be absolutely merciless.

No, I’m not really too concerned because they both have proven over the years how much they do care. I have personal experience of this, as do many people. I think if the press going after them people will see it as an attack on one of their own.

Yes, you’re right of course @cardibach; the media is exceptionally anti-Labour, for the most part.

People who have personal experience of them, maybe. The rest of the country?

When I checked last time the only people allowed to vote in the Makerfield by election are people who live in Makerfield….

I just don’t understand the love for Burnham.

He’s an Oxford-to-Westminster-role person. Never done an ordinary days work in his life.

An accent doesn’t make you a salt of the earth person.

What about all the people who don’t know about AB’s and JS’s successes and just believe all of Reform’s lies? Go out there and campaign for AB!! Stand up and be counted. Now is not the time to be complacent!

You are an interesting person. I have literally been speaking to someone in LP today about campaigning. Please don’t ever assume you know the first thing about me and my life.

Do you live in Makerfield or have any understanding of the issues that people there have? I'd say unless you do, then its possibly you who is underestimating things. People in Makerfield are sick of the way their small towns have been neglected and ruined by the Labour Party and a lot are now as they are know on here 'flag shaggers' who want to stop the influx of of asylum seekers that the area has been flooded with for the last 15 - 20 years. This will be what sways many voters in Makerfield I'm afraid.

Cambridge, actually. And he was very good as Manchester mayor, particularly around reducing homelessness, making public transport more affordable and helping people come together after the Manchester bombings (which happened in late May 2017, just a couple of weeks after he took in office).

The comments about the press going after them relate to a wider context here - what will happen if Burnham succeeds in ousting Starmer

What do you mean ‘I am an interesting person’? All I am saying is AB will not walk this election. His Labour-supporting constituents need to help any way they can.

its up to people to decide what they believe.

I don’t think you’re a Labour supporter at all 😂😂 I think you’re a Reform bot disguised as a supporter of Josh Simons hahaha. Your posts are just WILD.

No 10 issue briefings against threats in any case. Against Burnham, Turner, whoever else. It’ll be full on briefings against each other for a while, from Labour.

Okay. Well, I hope the briefings are effective.

I don’t disagree @Thefastandthecurious5 I actually feel sick at the idea Burnham may not win. Look at the comments on here, yours included. Apparently he’s never done a days work in his life and the fact he went to Cambridge also appears to be a problem for some people. This is absolutely against the grain of what anyone who has experience of these people are telling you. Nobody, certainly no politician is perfect and there are things Burnham believes that I fundamentally disagree with him over. But, he has transformed his city and it’s the place of choice to live and work for a lot of young people. He’s also made huge changes in Stockport. If you really want to learn about him maybe google Stockport regeneration, Bickershaw dump, Platt Bridge floods, LSV. I could go on .

Ok. But it’s not the rw media giving them a worse time, it’s Labour turning on each other pushing out briefings.

Oh, Lord help us. 🙄

I think you’re completely missing my point. You clearly really like Josh Simons, but you won’t be voting for him in this by-election, as you’ll be voting for Andy Burnham. I know a lot more about Andy Burnham than Josh Simons and I really rate him. My point is: if you really want AB to win, please do everything you can to make sure this happens. There will be vicious briefings coming from Reform about AB and JS in the weeks to come.

Oh great - yippee.

And vicious briefings from no 10. Karl Turner talks about this well.