To find Andy Burnham’s sudden rise to the top odd?

[GarlicBiscuits]

A few weeks ago, I’d never heard of this man. A few weeks ago, he wasn’t even an MP.

Yet suddenly, he’s everywhere and going to be our next prime minister? What qualifies him for this role? It seems that all the Labour MPs love him. Why?

The whole situation is very odd to me… I’m not sure it’ll do Labour any favors at all.

I agree. Scotland is certainly North. And as for Ms S. Incredulous.

How had you never heard of Andy Burnham? Seriously? He was on the news a lot during covid.

I'd never heard of him either...

Burnham's only really known by northerners and bra retailers.... He's got quite a pair :)

All that good northern living catching up with him :)

That's right, and he was beginning to be touted as a possible future PM then.

Well you know Liz Truss got into power after an internal election, and how did that go? 😂 It's not always a given that that route would somehow naturally yield better results

It was when they were in power. He was in the cabinet under Gordon Brown.

And I believe polling out today shows the public think he’s more ready to be P.M than either Kemi Badenboch or Nigel Farage, although TBF it looks like the public don’t think much of any of them: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/andy-burnham-prime-minister-poll-b3005843.html

Nor was John Major.

Yes he was on TV a lot in Covid. It is odd he was not an MP until recently though and his views on TWAW are awful though I like some of his policies

I wish we had Shabana Mahmood instead.

Do you never read/hear/see the news? Hes been a prominent name in politics at a national level since about 2010 and locally as an MP for 10 years prior to that.

I will ignore the patronising question.

Reread the PP:
He’s been tipped as a likely future PM for years.

I ask again, when/where has been tipped as a likely future PM for years (hint: look at his career path).

I look forward to your response.

@Bullandbear
A c&p of my post from last night
"To be fair I should have said "had a go at" "been keen on the idea" "others have suggested" rather than "tipped" but hes certainly not suddenly appeared as a prospect from nowhere. Not that Im a fan tbh"

Due to having had a look to find my other comment on this thread I can see lots of comments from you demonstrating that you are clearly very interested in politics which makes your comment even more surprising to me.

Here is a quote from an article from 2021 when he was re-elected as the mayor of Greater Manchester:
"Mr Burnham's popularity has seen him become the bookmakers' favourite to become the next Labour leader, even though he is not in the Commons" - as a precursor to being the PM.
Elections results 2021: Andy Burnham re-elected as Greater Manchester mayor - BBC News

I want to see how Andy Burnham is going to control the narrative. The media has been so fast and hounding all recent PMs and then some of the public chimes in further on social media with all this fashion for direct commenting.
The younger generation seems to respond more to direct posts from politicians short online stuff. So I want to see if Burnham is going to do things really differently and reach the groups online directly that Reform have been working on via social media.

Thank you.

I have not seen him ‘tipped’ as a PM, and he only rolled the dice recently following Labour’s disastrous showing in the May local and devolved elections.

“This is the job in politics I truly want,” Burnham said in 2018, of the mayoralty he had already held for a year. “Because, in a way I could never be in Westminster, this job brings out the real me.” Westminster, he added for good measure, “makes a fraud out of you”.

My view is that Burnham, similar to Boris in some ways, is an opportunist - the need to please, the mercurial nature, the fleeting commitment to a particular cause of political opportunity.

My view is that Burnham, similar to Boris in some ways, is an opportunist - the need to please, the mercurial nature, the fleeting commitment to a particular cause of political opportunity

I agree to a certain extent. 😲 But most politicians have elements of these traits/flaws in their personalities. Burnham has more morals than Johnson and is generally a much better person though, IMHO.

Burnham definitely has a better grasp of how to use SM. For example his video mocking Badenoch's "eyelashes and black tee shirt" comment.

I think he initially said ‘if I’m needed’. That was a while back can’t remember exactly when.

But it wasn’t until much closer that him being PM would happen. For a start Starmer was trying to use whatever to block it happening. The NEC etc

My view is that Burnham, similar to Boris in some ways, is an opportunist - the need to please, the mercurial nature, the fleeting commitment to a particular cause of political opportunity.

I don’t care. If he gets the country back on its feet and continues to kick Reform’s arse he’s fine by me.

Yeah. I feel the same tbh.

I don’t care. If he gets the country back on its feet and continues to kicks Reform’s arse he’s fine by me.

There, fixed yours.

It was fine as it was. Do you not want the country back on its feet?

Harold Macmillan said that prime ministers are either bookies or bishops.

We’ve had the sanctimonious bishop in the unflattering visage of the hapless Starmer, and I rather suspect Burnham will fulfil the role of bookmaker…

Speaking of odds, I predict that a Burnham premiership will prove to be a complete an utter horlicks.

Ah, the old twister - never gets old. Oh wait.

Define back on its feet. And this Labour government is uniquely placed to deliver that, right? And that’s because….

Did I miss your reply on gilt yields btw?

May, Johnson, Truss, Sunak all held one of the so-called Four Great Offices of State before becoming PM - Andy Burnham has not. I was offering Leader of the Opposition as an alternative - he hasn't held that position either.

Yes, you missed it. I replied almost as soon as you posted it. Did I say this government is uniquely placed? It’s doing better than the last one - we were in recession in the last two quarters of 2023.

None of that matters though, does it?

AB is the messiah, the king of the north, the only choice of the PLP.

It’s all about the optics (don’t focus on policy, or lack of it), the comms, and the ‘riz - and AB has ‘riz in spades.