Andy Burnham should be delivering Labours manifesto, not his own

[canthavetoomanylights]

Fair enough, have your ideas on HOW to do it, but his plans to further devolution were not voted on. Surely this is wrong.

I'm meeting you on your level. I'll have to stop now, though as my back is aching from bending down!

I don’t blame her for getting fed up with Starmer’s digs, sneering and calling her irrelevant. All of them sneering. Good on her for putting up with it. Many noticed how bad he was and it was part of him being ousted.

Perhaps Burnham will change the tone on his side for the better. And all politics will reflect that.

Kemi has been calling out Labour for the damage it is causing to the country. I support her in this. I do wish she had eased up on Starmer at the last PMQs but everyone can get it wrong and she is still learning. It’s hard to maintain the ‘right’ level of assertive as a female leader and there is a whole tonne of baked in privilege that others have and which she doesn’t.

And frankly, Kemi was right about Bridget Philippson being a spiteful class warrior. The VAT on private school fees does nothing to help the poor and simply hurts those who she deems to be privileged, and treats children in private education as collateral damage.

I am fed up with labour telling us all how working class they are. I just want competence. That can be posh competence, working class competence, I do not care one jot.

Do you mean as she’s a Black woman?

I agree that’s still a much bigger barrier than it should be in this day and age (despite the fact she herself has suggested on many occasions it’s hardly a barrier at all, and everyone should just pull themselves up by the bootstraps like she did!).

I don’t think my feeling that’s she’s an unpleasant person is influenced by her race/sex, since I don’t have this feeling about other PoC in the public eye. The way she behaves would come across as bullying whoever she was, IMO. But of course, unconscious bias is a thing, so I concede the possibility it could have some impact on my judgement. I hope not though.

I imagine the mental gymnastics required to defend your position are quite exhausting. As you were.

Well since most of the Labour electorate don't know what far right looks like, that makes it about even.

She was at it again in her speech today.

Calling someone irrelevant (with some accuracy tbf) is not really in the same vein as calling someone the Gestapo or a Nigerian dictator. She needs to rein it in, she makes herself look idiotic.

We're still waiting for evidence from you about Burnham being Far Left. Chop chop.

Of course it’s not accurate. She’s the leader of the opposition. And the most successful black woman in politics, the first to lead a party.

God I’m glad he’s out taking all those who love his sneering too. Good riddance.

"She needs to rein it in" just read that back.

I thought I posted my synopsis earlier. Did you miss it?

It’s not just the language used in parliament. It’s the way she approaches policy and ideological disagreements in general.

Actually the way she talks about left and centrist people is the way the right often (correctly) complains some left/centrist people talk about brexiteers. It’s not just a difference of opinion - they’re thick, it’s laughable, let’s sneer openly at them.

That’s how she comes across to me. This kind of attitude poisons all our discourse. Someone in her position should be above it.

Obviously Farage isn’t above it either, but then we expect little else from him by now…

Starmer was the bully. A few can’t see it as he’s a white, male and fits the mould. He was rude and sneering. I’m not surprised she delivered it back. Good on her for being strong enough to deal with it.

A female black leader. Tories leading the way, again in pushing back against misogyny and racism. Labour, meanwhile ...

What do you mean? What is wrong with saying she needs to rein in the insults?

When you consider the qualities required to be the leader of the opposition and then navigating that as a woman, and then as a black woman, it is no wonder that Kemi sometimes comes across too strongly in her dismantling of the other side. I don’t think a gentle approach by a woman would be acceptable to the wider public or the opposition, they would patronise her to no end and she would be chucked out. Kemi takes the offensive approach and leads PMQs fearlessly because she has to do this to remain relevant and to establish her authority.

I’m not sure why you’d assume that people who don’t want Burnham are the same ones who wanted Starmer gone.
I don’t like Burnham, and I’d have preferred Starmer to stay (I appreciate he couldn’t, because it was either jump or be pushed because Burnham had 80 MPs supporting him)

As for the mediocre man who called her irrelevant, enough for some women to actually buy and repeat the insult, she’s out lasted him. Good on her.

She's knocking Labour while they are down. I'm not sure why it's expected she should be giving them a break.

But she could do all those things without the insults. Her over reliance on them makes her look weak.

I hope Burnham will consciously choose to not go down the insults route. Badenoch might have to rethink tactics if that is the case.

You can also look at Kamala Harris in the US to see how a woman is treated for being too warm, too likeable and not critical enough. The US press was really tough on her for laughing and smiling too much, suggesting she wasn’t a serious person. Kemi and her advisors will be aware of this.

Are you nuts? He’s tied himself to the ridiculous fiscal rules Reeves and Starmer put in place unnecessarily and he will find he’s as hamstrung as they were when it comes to making any difference to the government’s finances.

We need tax increases, particularly on higher earners. And I say that as a higher earner.

I feel exactly the same way. I think you misread what I was trying to say.

It’s pretty easy to remain as the shadow leader. Even the shit ones outlast the most accomplished PMs.