What is going on with Andy Burnham's social media?

[msagent]

I swear every post I see is following a formula:

• personal anecdote
• link to current issue
• why this means I understand you
• how I'm going to change the world
• join us in doing so

The way they are written makes me cringe. Almost poetic and overly emotive. Maybe it just doesnt work on me.

Anyone else just want some normal?

Yes, because Blair and Brown were so amazing that the Conservatives were voted back in.

If you are going to sling mud it should have Red, Blue and Orange targets.

"Dear Chief Secretary, I’m afraid there is no money. Kind regards - and good luck! Liam" (Byrne) vs Tory black hole...

Potato, potato

Now you know John Healey was never in a position to know how bad the books were ;)

I am sure this unexpectedly worse position won't be exploited in upcoming budget at all.

No choice..., unforeseen..., broad shoulders..., Fair share...

That note again! We all know the origin of that. It might have escaped your attention that we’d just undergone a global financial crisis and had to bail the banks out. What was Sunak’s government’s excuse?

It was a joke. The Chief Treasury Sec traditionally leaves a jokey message for the new incumbent.

Probably no longer though.

I know. 🙄

Many people know. I was just adding a point you hadn’t made, not suggesting you were ignorant of it.

Liam Byrne says ‘there’s no money’ note harmed Labour’s election campaign | General election 2015 | The Guardian

I can't find any credible reference to it being a tradition. I do remember when it was reporting that he had apolgised for leaving it. Happy to stand corrected if you have a link. There are several around the apology from different sources.

I imagine there are going to be some people on this thread who will HATE this and use it to imply the Prime Minister is trivial (despite Blair and Cameron both doing Comic Relief), but has everyone seen that Andy Burnham is going on the Gogglebox Stand Up to Cancer special…?!

The clip they’ve released is him offering Steve Rotherham an array of crisps, which made me laugh - he gets the mick taken out of him for doing crisp based banter online, and instead of being rattled by it, he uses a charity TV appearance to lean into it and do more crisp based banter. I do think he’s genuinely warm, good humoured and self aware (which I know are far from the only qualities a Prime Minister needs, but which undeniably help communicate your message). Will be very curious to see how he comes across. Even I think it could be risky!

Here’s one ref. Ed Conway is a very experienced journalist.

https://medium.com/@edconwaysky/two-things-that-really-annoyed-me-about-this-election-campaign-ca2feef041c4

One quote from 1964 isn’t evidence of a tradition. Unless it is an every 46 years one!

Joke or not, IMO, my original point stands they are as bad as each other.

2010 - the incoming Conservatives were “surprised” there was no money

2024 - incoming Labour was “surprised” by a black hole.

Potato, potato.

This is absolutely correct. Farage and Trump are prime examples of the right pushing feelings over facts. Bringing Corbyn into this is beyond ludicrous.

Oh, I don’t doubt the falseness of Starmer and Reeves’s black hole claim. I just don’t think Byrne’s note is in the same league.

The big difference is that we all knew there was no money after Brown. The black hole was an invention.

We all knew there wasn’t in July 2024. Which was why the Tories made such a miserable fist of fighting that election. I imagine they were extremely relieved to get beaten. And why they kept insisting there would be tax rises.

Don't think we are that far apart.

My point is they both left a mess.

they've got 14 years of Tory mess to try to sort out, let's not forget that.

All forgotten and forgiven by haters of “the left”.

Just pointing out the hypocrisy.

Amateur? You think so? Amazing :)

It was an excuse to hike taxes and borrowing to £70bn after the “fully funded, fully costed” nonsense. No wonder Starmer was ousted, what a lie.

Amen. It also explains why he is so popular amongst masses. People saying they can finally understand and engage with the communication style (dumbed-down).
Use some props and references to family members and we suddenly have a “relatable politician”. Next thing he’s going to imitate shivering and rub his shoulders to explain to us why it’s bad that people can’t afford to heat their homes. Or perhaps we should get him on a John Lewis Christmas commercial. That would increase his ratings even further, without actually doing anything meaningful for the country.

Human devolution innit.