AIBU to wonder why Burnham attracts so much negativity?

[Conicallychronic]

Why is there so much negativity towards politicians and Burnham in particular? Burnham hasn’t really done anything yet but so many on here appear to hate him.

I agree that politics has been a shambles recently but what’s the alternative?

Personally I feel a degree of optimism that we may have a PM that actually turns things around for us.

Backtracking then. Whatever you want to call it, same circus different clown.

Im cheesed off. I voted for Starmer as leader of labour.
I just want to keep one priminster and let them get on with the job. Im really disliking labour for causing all this drama when theres bigger fish to fry

Well, the previous chancellor did warn them that promising things is tough as the finances only stretch so far. Maybe politicians should be truthful and not say things they find they can’t deliver. Or get people’s hopes up.

Yes, and some of it seems like a Burnham/Haigh vanity project. How is it all being funded?

there would have to be generous incentives to persuade people with existing local growth jobs in London to move to Manchester

Andy Burnham shakes up Whitehall with new government department | Politics | The Guardian

I’ll always be a little bit grateful that he moved to replace Starmer, so he has that. As an aside in another post you said I vote differently to you, I may have at times (are you always Labour?) but like many I switch between the major parties.

I’ll give Burnham a chance, it’s a weight off to not have KS in power. I can actually listen to the former for a start which is a level up.

The Daily Mail started when he got elected as an MP. It’s absolutely ridiculous isn’t it. All their readers just drinking it in.

It isn’t backtracking. He’s shared what people on the doorstep shared with him. He’s conveyed their feelings. Then people have got excited and claimed he’s going to bring it about. He’s clarified he’ll look into
it, but its a huge change and would need to be funded from somewhere.

It’s not backtracking, it’s clarification for the hard of thinking.

It's not a big insight though is it, that people are fed up about the cost of living. The Government already knew this.

Oh, really? I made an assumption that you were what I generalise as A Fair Minded Conservative, and enjoy speaking to you, because I like to get a 360 and you engage without insult or hyperbole.
Yes, I've always been Labour. Raised in a pit cottage by generations of miners. Coal not dole stickers on my school bag. Party member for decades.
But it's a thoughtful choice, not just in my DNA. There have been directions Labour have taken that I've not agreed with, where I've been very disappointed and questioned whether they still aligned sufficiently with my values. Never to the extent I've withdrawn my support. But sometimes they have felt like the least worst option.

I mean I did vote differently at the last GE but not always. Much of what I thought would happen did but that was a particular Starmer / Reeves approach that I really disliked. I’m happy to have this breather now with AB. My one bit of advice to him / Labour would be to actually knock political point scoring on the head. As he proposed.

That means when apologising for an unpleasant joke from WS don’t add ‘the tories’ as Mahmood did. Look forward, not to others, he could go where he wants to and succeed. He’s liked, I’m not sure about the policies but maybe he can do it.

But pls do the thing as proposed where everyone’s not battered by they did this, it’s not us it’s them, it’s frustrating.

I think sometimes it is necessary to reference the past so people understand the start point. It would be wrong not to challenge the idea that our current state of affairs has more to do with two years of Starmer than it does with 14 years of the previous administration.
However I agree that the public have got tired of finger pointing. They're less interested in how we got in a mess and more interested in how we get out of it.
As for Streeting, an apology that ends in a but isn't worth offering.

No it wasn’t useful or relevant. Mahmood was apologising for a joke from Streeting. No one in other parties caused that.

Burnham said he wants to end political point scoring, that was a prime example of where it’s pointless. He gets working together more and why the public are fed up with politicians. He should model not looking back, he didn’t mention inherited once, and all the others should learn. It’s part of why he’s popular.

Actually the Thatcher thing - I don’t think that works for him, he could the same policies without making people drift backwards in time.

Sorry @5128gapI sped read as doing stuff, I think we’re agreeing more

I saw the Thatcher thing as meaning that was a pivotal point in our history where the landscape for working people changed with the loss of traditional job opportunities.
It resonated with me, because my former mining community is unrecognisable from the one I grew up in as a child.
I strongly agree that we need to create opportunities for the young people who would once have been miners, steelworkers, manufactures, and the Thatcher era is synonymous with those being lost.
It will have worked for some of us. But may not have been that calculated anyway, just from the heart of a Labour supporter who grew up under Thatcher.

Yes, I think we all need to scrutinise this word the Government keeps using "re-prioritising" for their latest schemes. They are putting out crowd pleasers but have not given facts of how things are to be paid for.

Yesterday, they were called out on the VAT on electricity, today it is the cap on buses. The ministers questioned on the media round are just recycling words,a lot of the time.

That’s fine, I like the giving young people jobs it’s chalk and cheese for me v Starmer / Reeves who couldn’t see that NI hikes would impacted that age group.

I added the Thatcher stuff as I said he doesn’t use ‘inherited’ as a crutch as Starmer and co did. And remembered that part. Generally though AB avoids the blame game more and I think that’s part of why he’s popular.

He hasn't scrapped VAT on electricity bills. He's implemented a temporary pause on VAT for 6 months which is 4.8%. Bills for most people went up by 13% on 1 July and are expected to rise by a further 3% in the Autumn. Context is everything.

Agree. He seemed to fight Makerfield without the need to even criticise Reform. Which would have been shooting fish in a barrel. I liked the way it was all about taking responsibility for what government had done wrong and focusing on the future.

Burnham's ambition is so blatantly obvious that many people question is his ambition to be PM or to be a good politician. As pp stated there is a similarity to Boris Johnson in this regard.

I do think he is the right person to lead Labour into the next election as I believe he will connect with many voters, but how he has gone about becoming PM is so underhand and I think will impact how some people vote.

To many MP's are self serving its not wonder people feel so negative towards MP's. This goes back many years and there has always been an element of this but has defiantly stepped up in the last 30 off years.

There are many ex politicians that I do not agree with their politics but I believe there were dedicated politicians. Now I can name very few

Nobody likes a usurper who has won a crown without a proper contest. He was rejected twice by Labour Party members when he stood as leader.

Might as well vote for Count Binface. We might even get free croissants!

Liz Truss helped everyone with their utility bills just after she became PM. It didn’t stop her being replaced.

He flounced off to Manchester rather than put in the hard work of getting Labour into shape again. Sir Keir did that job.

Boris Johnson had 11 years experience as an MP and 8 years as a Mayor when he became PM.

Burham has served 9 years as Mayor and 16 years as an MP including 5 years in various ministerial positions under Blair and Brown.

Can we please stop pretending he’s wet behind the ears?

Wasn't BJ an actual MP, unlike burnham who was last in nearly 10yrs ago. Surely recent experience is very relevant for such a senior role and no I don't mean as a council boss.

He is wet behind the ears and a backstabbing sneak to add to that. Great attributes.