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

Clutching at straws there. She clearly refers to neighbours, even if people want to believe she didn't include anyone but self and family.

To say otherwise is to be wrong.

Our neighbours we knock on each other doors, share birthdays, BBQs. Help with computer problems, fix taps, pressure washers, lawnmowers. Etc

When waiting for surgery was on two sticks, post surgery crutches. Out shopping strangers were kind, holding doors, getting things down from high shelves, stooping down to low shelves. Carrying on the shopping to the car. My hairdresser came to the house when I couldn't drive for a time.

We can't help society bar putting money in a collection tin. Supporting just giving now and again.

Thatcher was prescient, wasn’t she?

So to bring this back around to your original post supporting modern Thatcherism.
@NoBluebutCerulean gave a take on modern Conservatism. It would be helpful to understand your view, please.

Yes I think she was correct in that quote. People blame ' society' but society is made up of us and our individual decisions. It isn't a separate thing.

That sounds great but I fear you are in the minority.

That was not the vibe we got from her as PM - maybe you are too young to have experienced life under Margaret Thatcher, I don't know.

She was marmite and those that didn't like her really hated the way she caused division in society. The poll tax for example was really unfair and caused riots. As a young couple living in a 1 bed flat in London, we paid more poll tax than our parents living in 4 bed houses in other parts of the country.

Giving council tenants the Right to Buy council housing was a prime example of her not caring for long term social cohesion, only what benefitted the Tory party in the short term (working class votes).

In the long term it has caused huge problems with lack of social housing.

Yes it clearly includes neighbours.

I'm old enough for her to have been PM during my childhood. But while I was aware of some things which went on then, I wasn't politically aware, no.

I don't really base my opinions on vibes though, to be honest!

Such a shame Tony Blair didn’t right Thatcher’s wrong on council housing nearly three decades ago.

I'm basing my opinion of personal experience of her while I was a voting adult.

Yes that was disappointing.

Personal opinions aren't facts though, are they? Enough people (of voting age) didn't share your 'vibes' of her to maybe mean it was simply a difference in politics.

Her words contradict what you think. And I experienced enough of the 80s to know that society was better then than it is now. People used to give a shit about their neighbours and neighbourhood. They don't now, or nowhere near the same extent.

I often look at the path / verge outside of people's houses whilst out with the dog and think that in the 80s, people would've weeded, tidied up litter and picked up any broken glass lying around. They don't now; it's always somebody else's fault / problem.

Just because I wasn't politically aware doesn't mean I don't know how society has gone downhill.

Agree that society was better then than now. But she was possibly the start of a selfishness that seems more prevalent in society now.

Anyway, not worry arguing about. At the end of the day it is of course personal opinion on a highly divisive past PM.

It would be an interesting study to see when the cracks started in society and how we got here. Obviously 'here' is post-Covid, which accelerated the decline. But we weren't in a good place pre-Covid.

I don't know how it can be reversed now either. That's something for Burnham (and all future PMs) to work on!

And yet, re poll tax, many many people think council tax should be replaced with a per person charge.

Only the people to young to remember the last time it was tried. It brought Thatcher down.

Too young, ffs. 🙄 I blame the heat.

Exactly. What she said is usually misrepresented. It suits people to quote just the first few words and then no more.
Thank you for using the word 'community'.

It needed adjustment, not banning. It was very fair in the respect of it applying to all adults and not only houseowners.

It was very unfair in that users of very few services paid the same as people who used a lot. It was highly regressive and a blight on democracy because people dropped off the electoral register in order to avoid it.

I think we have gone through a period when too many children and people have been given to understand “I have a problem, it is the Government's job to cope with it!” or “I have a problem, I will go and get a grant to cope with it!” “I am homeless, the Government must house me!” and so they are casting their problems on society and who is society? There is no such thing!

If children have a problem, it is society that is at fault. There is no such thing as society.
Margaret Thatcher, 1987

Britain’s main disability benefit is “not fit for purpose” and deters people from taking up work, a government review has found.

A report by Sir Stephen Timms, the social security minister, said Personal Independence Payments (PIP) were not working “as intended”.

It warned the spiralling cost of the handouts, set to hit £41bn at the end of the decade, was causing public support for the welfare state to crumble, but did not propose ways to find savings.

It doesn't quite say it like that, does it?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czrxj5vvey0o

The one thing nearly everyone agrees with is that we are pleased Starmer and Reeves are gone. The Tories are obviously pleased and presumably Labour are pleased otherwise why did they force out after a mere 2 years.