To be sick to death of Andy Burnham already

[Viviennemary]

I'm sick to death already of seeing Andy Burnham and hearing his voice. And he isnt even PM yet. Come back Keir Starmer. All is forgiven. I dont know how I'm going to suffer 3 or four more years of him in charge. Playing the part of the working class hero who is going to save the country. Give me strength.

I am sick of the warners, whiners, lobbyists and demanders. It’s been absolutely endless.

Luckily Starmer’s own MPs gunned for it. 200 plus canvassed in Makerfield and over 300 nominated Burnham.

The party did it themselves.

Originally, about undermining Starmer. They needed a good analysis after the local elections - I think there are trends in the country that need to be factored in. Not a bloodless coup.

We have run out of options. If this doesn't work, what then Farage or Polanski?

I’m confident that Burnham will fail quite quickly. Hopefully then both the party and the wider public can have a vote on the leaders we actually want.

He's a Blairite to the core and will take us into a war with Iran.

I agree, but I don't want Burnham to fail. Because what might come after could be awful for the majority of us who aren't Reform supporters.

Your sneering posts about Angela Rayner show you in a bad light, not her.

Have you ever criticised the educational background of MPs like Reform MP Lee Anderson? He doesn't have any O levels or A levels either. I don't think he even has an NVQ2 either so he has fewer qualifications than AR yet he is the Chairman of Reform. He was also Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party before he defected to Reform.

Yes, that would make me step into line at the thought of that horror.

Yes- as described in This Is England (the 2006 film)

YABU. See past peoples’ way of presenting, focus on what they actually get done. Personality politics finished Starmer, but if we’d allowed him to continue he would have achieved good things for the country. Stop getting rid of Prime Ministers every year because you don’t like their voice. We need stability.

Who are they? I'm guessing Allison Pearson.

Good, thank you - actual debate around policy rather than clear discrimination!

I haven’t dismissed any legitimate criticism of policies.

Absolutely agree, affordable social housing and detailed scrutiny of those, backed by our hard earned taxes, who deliver it.

Do I know for definite whether Andy Burnham will seek to better scrutinise housing developers once PM? Only time will tell.

From what I’ve seen over the years from politicians and government as a whole, Andy Burnham’s approach is giving me some hope though of a better, fairer future for all. Let’s hope he tackles profiteering housing developers as well as those making billions from our natural resources whilst most of us struggle to pay the bills.

But that's why I've been vehemently opposed to getting rid of Starmer. It's the political equivalent of what Tuchel did with his ill-advised substitutions...

It dosent surprise me, I also became a mother at 16 and have encountered many of these types . You’ll be surprised how many also got “knocked up” young and just aborted. I think there’s definitely some bitterness that someone who kept their child hasn’t been consigned to a life of misery and god forbid they’ve actually achieved more than them!

The difficulty is, the leader most of us actually want doesn’t exist.

I’m not convinced that Labour are making the right choices. But if the only other viable option, with likelihood of getting the majority to run the country, is Reform - I’d rather stick pins in my eyes.

Come the next election, if we are where we are now, I’ll have to tactically vote to avoid that horror show.

He believes that certain parts of the country have not recovered from changes brought about under Thatcher. I live in a former mining community, and I agree with him. However, his emphasis was clearly on moving forward and trying to support the disadvantaged communities who feel they've been ignored. You are usually very supportive of this when Farage talks about it. Why when it's Burnham is it a problem?

I remember when Burnham stood for leader in 2010 and looked like a rabbit in the headlights. I didn’t vote for him then and wouldn’t vote for him now. He’s simply not up to the job. He’s built some experience since then, but running Manchester is not going to be an appropriate blueprint for a nation the size of the UK. His whole common man northerner working class shtick is going to wear thin very quickly. He will struggle to unite the factions of the Labour Party and there is nothing from his, albeit limited, early pronouncements to suggest he has any real policy plans. It’s all just slogans. We just need to let him have his turn (because he’s been hell bent on getting it by any means for decades) and then the party can move on to something more positive.

What you are probably sick of is the media.
He hasn’t said much yet. He has done one speech.
What has happened is endless speculation via much of the media. Especially from the media and journalists that will not like his views and maybe are a bit unnerved if he might be successful.
Some of the red tops have a very hostile campaign against him.

I am not a Labour devotee by the way. There are some things he says I fully agree with. And some I don’t.
But he hasn’t done anything yet. So will wait to see.
He apparently is opening up North Sea for drilling. Good. I agree with this.
He feels much of our problems stem from Mrs Thatcher’s era. I agree with him here. They do.
I disagree with him about local decision making is better. It might have worked where he was in charge. Not everywhere has someone like him as Mayor.

But wait and see. He has made one speech only.

Equating the PM's position to the England football manager is embarrassing. Not only has this circus been allowed to go ahead with parachuting in an MP to become PM, but you trivialise its significance.

Yes, no one is saying they did not have to examine their policies and strategies. There were a few ex-ministers (Rayner, Haigh, Simons) who had to step down through their own misdemeanours. They were attracted to regaining influence under Burnham. We shall see ...

I've got a lot of time for Andy Burnham and he has the advantage of not being elected on promises that he couldn't keep. Starmer's hands were tied as soon as he took office because he'd promised no income tax rises and then realised the sorry state of the economy. So Rachel from accounts had to get creative and decided to do so by stealing from the pensioners and increasing employers NI so the jobs went away. Those went down well. Starmer was the architect of his own downfall and I think we now need to realise that things need paying for and if that means an increase in income tax then that's what needs to happen. We need to pay for NHS, we need to pay for Defence, etc, money doesn't grow on trees and books need to be balanced. We were paying 30% income tax in 1980 and it's gradually been reduced but so have services.

I've got a feeling he's going to tell it like it is, the unvarnished truth and people are not going to like it but hopefully it will lead to investment and more prosperity which we sorely need.

Since when does Farage talk about Thatcher’s governments being responsible for some of the problems we have now ? He doesn’t.
If anything he would have been a fan of her ideas. Not against them. At all.
I would say she is behind many of our problems. But also Blair. The two combined have caused many of our current problems.

Did someone up thread really just suggest that Burnham will take on profiteering housing developers?! Labour needs to pray that they secure the Manchester mayoralty election, because they will not want a Reform administration scrutinising Burnham’s record in that area.

He’s made more than one, three so far. They’re ok as speeches, I mean much better than Starmer but vibes go so far he needs to work out economic realities. And there seems to be a gap between what is said and money available for it.

On oil drilling did you post you opposed Starmer and Miliband on that? Most Labour seemed to back them, maybe they’ll switch now.