AIBU to feel like Andy Burnham is an impostor?

[NotABeliever]

Whenever I see him on TV, my first reaction is a jolt of disbelief — as if Andy Burnham has somehow staged a stunt and pushed out the person who actually earned the right to be in Number 10 but somehow everyone is ok with this. It feels like a con, like he’s occupying a role that isn’t his.

What’s strange is that I don’t dislike Andy Burnham, and I’m hardly a devoted Starmer supporter. Yet something about the way Starmer was removed and replaced so abruptly feels fundamentally wrong and unserious . I keep thinking: Starmer is the one who won the election, not Burnham — so how is Burnham now the Prime Minister? It feels like a huge injustice.

I understand that in the UK we elect a party, not a president, and that whoever leads the party becomes PM. But even within that system, it’s hard to accept that a sitting Prime Minister can be shown the door simply for not being popular enough. With three years until the next general election, how can anyone confidently claim Starmer would have lost? Polls swing constantly.

It just feels like a moment of madness — a sudden upheaval that’s left us starting from scratch with a new cabinet and a new agenda, right when the previous team was in the middle of governing and getting on with the job. I can’t shake the sense that something about this isn’t right, and I’m struggling to make peace with it.

Boris Johnson was Margaret Thatcher with a different wig.

Oh where is that laugh emoji? here have this

Sure, but it all went on for over a year when we had a new PM - which makes the skulduggery all a bit creepy ...

I actually liked Burnham as Mayor but it’s going to take a little while for me to get used to him as PM. It all seems a bit too casual/matey for such a serious job.

Maybe it’ll work, I suppose we’ll really see when an inevitable ‘awful thing’ happens either at home or abroad. Or how he’ll get on with world leaders and the like.

In his dreams.

Ive just read that some very career minded MPs in Labour Party who are Starmer supporters are talking about coordinating a WhatsApp group to criticise Burnham. What utter twats. They should never have been in the Labour Party in the first place. “It’s not about you “ springs to mind. How dare they behave like that.

I mean, you don’t need to be a fan of MT to know that this just isn’t true. Boris had no leadership skills whatsoever, no plan for the country and was a short-lived disaster of a PM.

Yes, what an insult to Thatcher. Again, I am no fan of hers at all but she was a strong woman with a clear and unshakeable vision (misguided though I think it was) which was not just about herself and her own glory.

Boris Johnson, on the other hand, just wanted to be PM for his own sake and famously switched sides in the Brexit vote to do so. Then was a flaky disaster during the pandemic with no real clue what he was doing except wasting money and flouting his own rules.

Apples and Pears completely there.

What, like the Burnham Gang were doing for over a year in the build up to their coup against KS, you mean???

I do understand what you mean. Whenever anyone mentions the Queen I never ever think of Camilla.
With me it’s probably an age thing , but a few other people have said the same too.
Im ambivalent about the new PM. We have had six in the last decade and he’ll probably be gone by next summer , so it’s not really a problem. I don’t like what he is doing with the number 10 north thing. I’d rather they had devolution for Manchester or something like that. It’s going to cost loads of money and all for what ?
If he didn’t want to work out of Westminster, he should have stayed as the Mayor with a lot less stress and none of the traveling. It’s the tax payers funding this latest stunt.

YANBU,

We need a law that bar serious illness / reasoning that a new PM requires a new GE.

The Labour Party are as divided as ever then and it’s like a re run of the conservatives and their divided lines especially over brexit.
The PM seems to be only interested in his friends , maybe he’ll be the victim of another coup next ?
He will probably call an GE though if that happens.
I don’t see him as imposter , more of someone who played the long game to get the top job , but it may be ‘ be careful what you wish for ‘ once he realizes how hard it is to actually do well.

"Number 10 North" is a publicity stunt so that Burnham can't be accused of doing what he has actually done which is let down the people of Manchester who voted for him to be mayor.
It didn't bother him to be down in Westminster all the years that he was in politics previously.
Also suits him & his family now I suspect but, as you say, I would like to know how much it will cost us taxpayers and what benefit we actually get from it.

Also "the North" isn't just Manchester so I fail to see what difference it makes to people in say Newcastle or Cumbria.

Pure publicity stunt but I feel we should be prepared for a lot of this "style over substance" in the coming months.

I’m so annoyed about the north number 10. it is just ridiculous.

And using a private jet! Get the train fgs you grabby poser (paywall but title says it all).

The irony of this post. 🤪

You forgot the unelected Truss and Sunak @HeddaGarbled . But then who hasn't?