Burnham unopposed & likely to be PM by mid July

[Twiglets1]

Wes Streeting confirms on social media that he won’t stand as a candidate for the Labour leadership. He says that a contest where candidates spent the summer “exaggerating small differences” would not be good for the party or the country, and having spoken to Burnham, he is confident that that there is “a place” for the policies he has been advocating under a Burnham premiership.

The Guardian say this means it is now very, very likely that Burnham will be PM be mid July. It is conceivable that another candidate may come forward. But, apart from Streeting, no one else has publicly signalled an intention to stand, and with Burnham now a shoo-in, it is hard to imagine any other MP getting the support they would need to be a candidate.

heguardian.com/politics/live/2026/jun/22/keir-starmer-resignation-timeable-andy-burnham-labour-leadership-prime-minister-latest-news-updates?page=with%3Ablock-6a390a538f08adffab1e97fd#block-6a390a538f08adffab1e97fd

All the teachers polled work in private schools. Of course they’re going to say it’s a failure.

Actually, I take that back. There is of course SALTBURN - hmm, classic working class made up sob story gone wrong.

You do recall the NEU and others were against VAT on private school fees?

Oh yes, private school teachers, THAT BASTION OF BROADEST SHOULDERS available in the UK today.

I do think the attack on Bridget Philipson's background is unfair. Her mother's founding of a refuge for women is also to be praised.

It’s not a Gen X phenomenon. My head teacher in the 1960s was a Cambridge graduate whose father was a Welsh miner. He was justifiably very proud of his origins.

Interesting if so. They are more aware than the gov and many voters on what the policy would do.

I’m glad they’re asking for her to go now.

Given 11 union leaders wrote to say Starmer needed to go Burnham will probably listen.

@MulberryBrandy - Philipson had a dedicated parent who took her to the library and sent her to Catholic school. That is not deprivation!

The kids who are deprived are those whose parents are chaotic, overcrowded, addicted.
Any teacher you speak to will tell you that if you have a dedicated parent who reads to you regularly and values education that that is 85 per cent of the battle.

There are schools in this country on their absolute knees with no teachers etc and half their class with SEND and Bridget wants to stick even more unfunded SEND kids into the state system.
Her main aim seems to be to get a few more Bridget’s into Oxford to lessen competition with private schools. Who actually cares about any of that! It is not relevant. The kids who is well taken care of and goes to the library and to Catholic school is already ahead compared to most of the rest of the country.

There seems to be misinformation below on the poll

NEU members polling:
Deltapoll interviewed a representative sample of 4,131 NEU Members, online, between 3 - 8th June 2026. The figures have been weighted to be representative of all NEU members.

“It’s not a Gen X phenomenon. My head teacher in the 1960s was a Cambridge graduate whose father was a Welsh miner. He was justifiably very proud of his origins.”

@blossomtoes - you can be proud and still acknowledge your privilege of an elite education elevating you and being grateful.

Take me for example, on one side of my family immigrants dire poverty and starvation and on the other side top privilege. Whatever, you pick what you want to see and you have to be honest.

You’ve missed the point. He went to Cambridge from a Welsh mining village in the 1930s. It’s not, as you asserted, a Gen X phenomenon.

The NEU represents private school teachers.

We are the largest education union representing teachers, lecturers, support staff, and school leaders, in maintained and independent schools and colleges across the UK.

We have a powerful voice and have been effective in winning improvements to our members’ working conditions and shaping an education system that works for all.

https://neu.org.uk/about

@blossomtoes - OK it happened it the past.
I was referring to the 90s era of Education Education Education and all the extra people who went to university and the emergence of the Russell Group as an elite brand.

It is completely tone deaf to have a go at private schools when you yourself attended the elite brand commodification of university at its peak.

I disagree. If you achieved academic heights from a state school it’s entirely logical to want to make gold standard education available to all, not just those with the most money.

The quality of state schooling is not homogenous - that’s the entire point, hence catchment area games etc.

As for the ‘most money’, this is also disingenuous. For the majority of PS parents its a simple opportunity cost issue.

Well that doesn’t take much to decipher

A maintained school (often called a state school) is funded by central government and overseen by the local authority (LA) .

Representing state school teachers is one of the primary functions of the National Education Union. It is the largest education union in the UK and represents teachers and education professionals in maintained schools, academies, and free schools across England and Wales.

The polling private school only posts are misinformation.

We are so beyond all that @blossomtoes, nobody cares about that anymore.

We are in the AI stage where creativity, entrepreneurship and apprenticeships and people individually making a difference and locally is what matters. We are questioning institutionalisation itself. We are wanting every child and their talent to be valued and we do not want too much focus on “Academic heights” at the cost of all the other stuff young people have to offer.

It is the same with Defence. Of course Trident and submarines matter as well, but the key is in the small stuff like intelligence, cyber security, drones, chips etc.

Same with energy - we need everyone who can to have solar panels and an electric car.
We need every individual to matter and do their bit as much as they can and to be valued for everything they have. And we need the “SYSTEM” to stop underestimating people and writing them off and be dictated from the top via large institutions that are out of touch.
A lot of the Oxford courses are not up to date at all. That is a fact.

You cared enough to argue the toss a moment ago.

It is the commercialisation of the academic talent we do have as a country that is untapped and needs funding on a micro level so that we end up with our own tech companies etc more and more. So academic heights for the country is relevant in that regard and how funding/business can enter the sector. That is a growth opportunity.

The country has been held back by holding back the best. VAT, hereditaries symbolised the narrowness that epitomises that mindset.

I have no knowledge of her accommodation. I have worked in a refuge though.

You understand that "maintained" means state school don't you?

I came back to quote Bridget Philipson on Today, BBC, programme and @Bullandbear 's post had vanished. Here it is anyway:

"If you want robust political debate, I'm here for that every day of the week, but I think reducing this to Nazi analogies, reducing it to that level of highly personalised abuse, I think says more about Kemi Badenoch than anybody else".

Not really, Kemi Badenoch is a black African self made woman. Is she constantly whining about her race and being bottom of the queue? No, she got on with it and is at the top of the party she represents.
So many immigrants just work really hard and get to the top. Meanwhile the sob fest mindset is what holds us back enabled and encouraged by fake politicians like Bridget and Rachel Reeves. None of them had it that hard, none of them are working class, it is all bullshit.