Andy Burnham is just a dumbed down version of Starmer

[WarmHiker]

Just caught a snippet of some confident sounding commentator on tv repeating a line that you tend to hear in all news programmes. That Burnham is personable and has charisma. That line is starting make me think that as a country, the tyranny of low expectations has really hit a new low.

First thing’s first, when did saying ‘isn’t it’ after every sentence pass for charisma. Is the bar for charisma really that low.

Second, the guy’s failed upwards into a job that he’s clearly not fit for. His answer to everything is ‘Booses’.

The economy is on fire, buses. Immigration is out of control, buses. Crime is a problem, buses. We have the most expensive energy, buses. Industry and businesses are shutting down, buses.

He’s basically a small town mayor who accidentally became the prime minister because the quality of talent in parliament is non existent. Manchester is not a small town but running buses in Manchester doesn’t make you fit to be a PM. He was a failed health secretary, failed to be Labour leader twice when he actually had to have proper fight, somehow grifted his way to a mayor job for a decade. And yes his predecessors were any better. But why all the fawning over Burnham.

AIBU to think that we are headed towards a point soon when the public turns on him. He’s utterly out of his depth and the false shine will wear off in no time. A General election is looming.

All in all, so sad to see that this is the calibre of person at the top of government. What has happened to this country that no one smart wants to go anywhere politics.

I think he’s fab and have never previously voted labour but will be now.

Not everyone. I've been accused of being a russian bot several times.

Maybe it is time to change my hairstyle.

I find this kind of knee jerk hyperbolic dislike of any one political party really difficult to relate to. There have been Labour governments who have done good and bad things. There have been Conservative governments who have done good and bad things. It isn’t about whether Burnham
and May are comparable - it’s about most people in the country recognising we need a period of consistent, stable leadership, otherwise nothing will ever get done.

MN a left wing echo chamber? I think not.

the UK is in an economic and fiscal straitjacket caused by austerity and Brexit. We keep changing PMs like that will fix the problem. It won’t. Burnham is better than Starmer, with a better hold on his MPs. There will be no GE till 2029 unless there’s a massive scandal.

the problem is that any really transformative policy needs money to pay for it which the government hasn’t got.

YAVBU

I can't stand him from what I see about him as a person, and him as a leader. But I have even less time for people who are snobby about regional accents.

There are lots of things you could quite rightly call into question about him, his accent is not one of them.

Agree.

But sadly, I haven’t seen anything to suggest that AB or Labour have the vision or tools to deliver anything other than a sustained period of declining productivity. IMO, that's not the consistency that we need.

But, even so, would you really prefer another election right now? Or - worse - another Prime Minister brought down by their own party, this time likely followed by a leadership battle? I definitely wouldn’t want to see either of those things right now - because I think all it would lead to is even more unproductive party political point scoring.

I like Andy Burnham a lot, especially for the way he talks about putting problem solving above point scoring. I’m well aware he may not live up to my, and the country’s expectations - but I do genuinely think the best thing in the national interest is for him to have a bit of time to get on with it.

He uses party political point scoring.

@WarmHiker agree on the left wing echo chamber. When I joined I was accused of being Reform/a bot/Katie Hopkins and such like. I wonder why people think MN is so attractive to busy well known people instead of fellow middle aged women, for instance.

On Burnham: appearing on Gogglebox is just a continuation of his need to be on trend and different. He twitches his lips when Kemi is taking him on in the Commons. There's an angry man containing himself there. Typical trade unions demeanour.

He’s a politician - and there are areas where he thinks his party’s political philosophy is right, and the oppositions is wrong. So, of course there’s going to be some party political point scoring. But I think he’s very genuine in his belief that - on some issues - cross party working is how you actually get things done.

And he undoubtedly takes the nastiness and mud slinging out of it even when he is making a party political point. In his hour long conference speech, he didn’t attack or insult a single opposition leader. At PMQs, he has gone out of his way to praise Kemi Badenoch and has expressed real empathy to Nigel Farage over his security fears. I find it genuinely heartening to see a political leader behaving in such a decent, genuine way.

There seems to be an endless stream of these goady threads lately. I see another one has appeared. ' This is the worst government since Hitler, Stalin and Mao ' . Or something.

And there needs to be an election very soon. So Nigel can take over. Because if not something quite awful - but unspecified - will happen. The Prime Minister must resign despite having a majority of over 150. I can't reconcile this apparent incongruity but I just know I'm right.

We're doomed , Captain!

That male anger undid Starmer in the end. You could see it at PMQs.

Agree re bot accusations, it’s been rife against anyone not Labour for some time.

Why is it a goady thread? It's a legitimate viewpoint of a MNetter, which just happens to be open to debate.

I think your usual recommendations about bluesky, as an alternative meeting place for Labourites are very valid. It could be frustrating when not everyone agrees Labour and its current leader are superb. They've got Reddit as an option too.

Not pro Burnham enough.

But isn't Andy Burnham appearing on Gogglebox to raise money and awareness for cancer charities, basically the same as Tony Blair and David Cameron appearing on Comic Relief? I don't remember there being much backlash to that at the time. Andy Burnham getting stick for this, does seem to me a bit of a sad sign of how cynical and easily outraged we've become.

I think the reason it comes across as a goading thread is the OP mocks the Prime Minister's accent and sneeringly talks about Manchester as a small town. There is no genuine political question posed - just a string of (TBH seemingly fairly classist and anti Northern) insults aimed at the Prime Minister. What is the OP hoping to achieve by framing the question in that way? It doesn't open the door to a genuine, good faith debate.

In what way do people find Burnham left wing?

He is left of centre, but not much.

We have a far left party in The Greens and a far right party in Advance UK (if they are still going). Reform is quite far right, but I still wouldn’t go so far as to say that they are extreme right wing, and the Tories are right of centre.

There really isn’t as much between Labour and the Tories as people like to think.

I dont agree with any PM appearing on these reality TV programmes; It comes across as fake and gimmicky but more importantly, it's inappropriate. It's just that it seems more befitting of Burnham's got to be different style, with his No 10 North embarrassment.

Fair enough if you weren't keen on the Comic Relief appearences, either. I personally really like seeing warmth and humanity from political leaders (whatever party they're from - my favourite part of Kemi Badenoch's speech was when she talked in a more personal, emotionally engaging way about her family and how racism had affected them). I suppose I also think, given how disengaged and disillusioned so many people, and young people in particular, that it is really great to have a Prime Minister who is able to engage people in politics in a more relatable way. But I do understand that some people prefer a different rhetorical style.

I respect your post 👍

What you’re asking for is a wizard with a magic wand. Unfortunately they’re in short supply so we have to make do with human beings doing their best. As a nation we’re pretty much at the mercy of politicians in much more powerful countries.

He’s basically a small town mayor who accidentally became the prime minister because the quality of talent in parliament is non existent. Manchester is not a small town but running buses in Manchester doesn’t make you fit to be a PM

Have you actually read the OP?

The above quote is taken from there.
What is says is that Manchester is not a small town and there is no sneering about Manchester.

running buses in Manchester doesn’t make you fit to be a PM reads as sneering to me - and clearly to plenty of other posters too - otherwise why mention Manchester at all? It’s very clearly meant to derogatory.

The mocking of the Prime Minister’s accent is undoubtedly sneering.

And the use of “small town mentality” feels like an arbitrary and sneering insult too - because what does it even mean in this context? A small town mentality normally means being insular, and being resistant to change and to outsiders. I don’t see how that applies to the Prime Minister.

The one thing I could not see when I read the OP was any kind of invitation to a good faith debate about why the Prime Minister’s rhetoric is resonating so well with so many of the electorate, but so unappealing to others? It’s literally a string of insults.

A prime minister appearing on reality shows is not indicative of him being ‘real’. It’s indicative of him being out of his depth. He has no clue. So he tries the grab the headlines by doing these stunts.

Parts of the public have been dumbed down so much that the bar with which they measure competence is now how well they can tell a sob story. Remember Peter Kay’s parody of X factor/pop idol. This is life imitating art.

People who actually understand what a mess the country is and how pathetic Andy Burnham (like his predecessors) is are sounding an alarm everyday.