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?

I am not a fan of Burnham, but it is worth a) reading what he actually said and b) bearing in mind the audience he was addressing.

He was asked whether men who self-identify as women should be allowed to use women's toilets.

He replied: 'Clearly there is a group of people who do feel that toilets should be a safe space only for women and there should not be anyone biologically a male allowed in that space.I don't think that's a majority view. I think it's a minority view and quite a small minority view, actually. But it is a view so you can't completely ignore it. Possibly they might be women who have experienced male violence at some point in their life. I don't know, that's one way of looking at it.'

He added: 'The idea that people are falsely portraying their gender in a different way just because they want to abuse a women's space or encroach on women's safety… maybe it happens but you are talking a tiny, tiny, tiny number of people.

'So why are we allowing everyone to get into this really polarised and terribly hateful debate about these issues?

'I am going to make it really plain: I support trans rights and I want that to be known.'

From that article.

And the Greater Manchester mayor said the idea that single-sex spaces should be protected for biological women was a 'minority view'

Typical from Labour, but still.

🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞

Are you hoping for a Reform government? Because that is a strong possibility.

If you are a man pretending to be a woman, he will be very good news.

I don't know though if that is a strong view in Makerfield, so I imagine it won't be long until he says like Albert Prufrock.....That is not what I meant at all, That is it not it at all.

I'm going to call the foolish Andy Burnham, Albert Prufrock from now on. It suits him.

Well hopefully we wont have to listen to Starmer ( and Reeves) really boring yet also somehow really annoying voices.

I would rather anyone, a dog wearing a straw hat and sunglasses, won Makerfield rather than that self serving pillock. How dare he think he is a shoe in.

He and others like him need to be taught a sharp lesson.

King of the North, my arse.

Re: the Reform candidate:

searchlightmagazine.com/2026/05/reforms-makerfield-candidate-scrubs-fascist-leader-from-his-facebook-friends/

He's 'managed' a major city and city economy to a certain extent and seems to have done a good job. So I think that's a pretty good qualification- he's not just talk, he appears to have demonstrated some genuinely positive outcomes.

AB doesn't call himself The King Of The North, that name has been made up by the media. There really aren't many people living above Watford who think that Manchester and The North are the same place.

It's not very bright to think people can change sex.

And that has precisely what to do with the OP’s actual question…?

On the substantive matter - Burnham is the King over the water and he's heading full steam towards his own Culloden.

Really depressing that the media can decide the fate of a Prime Minister. What is needed is a stable government that can have time to make changes. The IMF reported yesterday that the growth forecast for the Uk was higher than expected (but obviously overshadowed by the Iran war). I don’t think Andy Burnham has the intellectual or political credentials to be PM (although he has the charisma but look where that got us with Johnson). Starmer is unexciting but sensible and that’s what the Uk needs right now.

One thing I do like about Burnham is that he wants closer ties to the EU and I’m all in favour of that. It was a big mistake to Brexit.

🤞🍿

I don’t. I think he’s copy and pasting policies that a failing labour government in the 1970s was using - more spending, more borrowing. It’ll be more of the same, if not worse, for our economy and the only reason he’ll have got into power is because of “vibes”.

He won't. He's made 2 massive U turns before he's even won his seat. He was an MP before and ran for leadership twice and failed.

Because to have a chance of becoming PM Burnham has to first win the by-election. The main competition he has to beat is the Reform candidate.

But I guess Reform supporters might not like the sunlight on their candidate.

I also don’t get it

Oh, I think you'll find he does!

Our Andy has a Very Big Opinion of himself.

Agreed. This week on newscast they flipped back to a previous interview with AB and he actually said "youre missing the crown" in reference to adam fleming "dressing up" as him. May 16th 30min in.
Being Mayor is one thing and hes uturned silly on things here- clean air zone being one. Already hes back peddling on his brexit and economy views.

I don’t know his views and know nothing about his work in Manchester but I think he comes across much better in communication. Keir Starmer is not good in communication. ( and I’m saying this objectively, I don’t mind him in general). We are in a difficult situation due to international factors so now it’s down to who will communicate better and will sounds better and Andy ticks this box.

On the polls however, Burnham is more popular than Farage, and that indicates a Labour revival if he takes the leadership.