Why do you think Andy Burnham would be a good Prime Minister?

[CurlewKate]

I’m looking for solid practical reasons. I get that he’s got charisma and nice eyelashes and has done a good job as Mayor. But apart from that? What IS it about him that makes people think he’d be good at the job?

At the end of the day the media will decide, just like the media has decided Keir Starmers fate. It's just so depressing that press barons still rule.

He's got more charisma is the only thing. You can't learn charisma.

We have the most principled Prime Minister since Gordon Brown, a man who genuinely wants to make a difference, and yet he's out because he hasn't got any charisma.

I don’t. I’m bemused by his saintly status. So interested in what his fans think.

I don't think he would make a better Prime Minister at all. Nothing I've seen from him tells me he can make tough decisions about the long-term future of the UK, he just speaks well to the media and looks like a nice guy.

It's infuriating that the Press has created this whole drama for the 24-hour news cycle. The UK needs to adapt to the future in very chaotic global conditions. This needs a long-term approach which the current PM is trying to address, but because it's boring with not much to show in the short term, the Press, and then the public, start craving a bit more drama.

I sincerely hope Andy Burnham rethinks this whole mess. He might have been a good candidate to take over if Starmer stepped down in a few years, but now is not the right time, and he is likely to ruin his reputation and chances forever if it all goes wrong (reform gets in, or he loses in a leadership contest to KS). Streeting has just ruined his own reputation and chances by doing the same

So that’s 3 of us who don’t get it..!

I think it's the media trying to create an exciting narrative.

This whole thing has dragged on for so long that I can't even remember what Keir Starmer has supposedly done wrong. Add another 25-35 working days to arrange a by-election once Josh Whoosey has stepped down, and everyone will have lost interest. The media really should have hyped an existing MP as a potential challenger, like Catherine West Ed Miliband Wes Streeting Angela Rayner Shabana Mahmood ...

Oh, wait.

I wish someone would think of the real victims here, for a change: Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart have had to do so many Emergency Podcasts the poor things must be exhausted!!

as someone said in a similar thread, his main selling point is that he can be easily made from Lego

Andy is amazing.

Yes because he’s tall

He seems like a good bloke and plenty of charisma but we may never know whether he'll be better. The visceral hatred for Keir Starmer has been created by the right wing press. It's the old "divide and rule" trick. Reform will get in by the backdoor.

It will be interesting who is willing to report his history of covering up the grooming gangs.

You should have gone with ‘Andy is awesome’ when using Lego!

Bit hard to tell, in the past he has chopped and changed a bit. Not sure what left he is and I don't think he is either

I never expected Starmer to have 'charisma' - had enough of that with Boris Johnson

But I did expect him to be a good PM, carry out his plans, not do crazy things e.g. appoint Mandelson when there was a perfectly good female ambassador who got on with Trump, side-line Emily Thornbury, treat Rosie Duffield with scorn - I could go on

I'm hoping that should Burham eventually become PM he will have learnt from Starmer's errors and stick with the programme - I'm hoping he'll be good!

I came to say that!

I do find the lack of suitable successors rather concerning though, to be honest.

Well Burnham is full 'Trans women are women' so not sure he is the gender critical candidate

No

The press will hound any future labour leader exactly the same way they have always done. If Burnham takes over he will be in exactly the same position as Starmer in a couple of years

I don't

He won’t be any better. Some charisma, and great eyelashes do not a great leader make, lol. Although they help - until you get the job and the hard stuff begins. I am watching with amusement at this shit show.

Oh @CurlewKate you should know by now that every few years Labour is convinced that a white man in a suit will save us. Despite being soundly beaten in two previous leadership elections and having smartly shifted his political position with the sands Burnham is the current incarnation of the white man in a suit. Lord knows we wouldn’t want a woman, PoC or an actual working class MP who grew up in public housing.

I’m mainly fascinated by his shifting position with the prevailing wind. I alternate this with banging my head against the wall.

Also of course being a mayor enabled him to take credit for the successes whilst blaming Westminster for the failures (see also first ministers in the devolved natiosn). If he became leader he would have less than two years to prove anything and in the current era of short termism he would likely be toast at the next election.

What really annoys me about this whole mess is the latest faux naive media narrative around "why do people hate Starmer so much" when most of them have spent the past two years ensuring that all people are being fed is constant negativity and deeply personal attacks about the man!

I live in Manchester and have met him. He just seems like a decent human who actually cares.

Won't forgive trying to make all of manchester a ULEZ

I have a very intelligent, capable, no-nonsense friend who is very senior in the frontline NHS and has worked with many Health Secretaries. She rates Andy Burnham as one of the best she worked with on the basis that he worked extremely hard to understand his brief and all the conflicting issues facing the NHS. He listened first.

Appreciate others will not necessarily agree or have the same view but it does have the benefit of coming from someone who worked with him directly.

Burnham has solid ministerial experience from his days in the last Labour government and, by all accounts, he has made a success of being mayor of Mancland. He showed real leadership over Hillsborough. He’s a very good communicator who ‘speaks human’ & gives more impression than many senior politicians of being in touch with the real world. On the other hand, he has zero experience of foreign affairs, an area in which even Starmer’s critics concede he has done an outstanding job.

Does any of this mean Burnham will be a success as PM if he gets that far? We don’t know. We never do until they actually start doing the job. One thing is certain, however. He will face exactly the same massive problems that Starmer & Sunak (both highly competent people) faced, and he doesn’t have a magic wand either.