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

How much of a nut zero cultist do you need to be that even the unions don’t want you in charge! Brilliant.

Two of Britain’s biggest trade unions are increasing pressure on Andy Burnham not to pick Ed Miliband as the UK’s next finance minister, arguing that his North Sea oil policy has damaged jobs in the sector.

Sharon Graham, general secretary of Unite the Union, and Gary Smith, general secretary of the GMB — two unions that are major donors to the Labour Party — have both pushed the likely next prime minister to choose an alternative candidate to run the Treasury.

How things change. Thinking back to Ed v David challenge

Ed Miliband is an educated man who is wrong about everything. The most damming thing he is wrong about is Ed Miliband, who is a thin-skinned, arrogant zealot hiding in the body of a substitute Geography teacher, not a Big Beast.

Rachel Reeves has meanwhile declared she has unfinished business as Chancellor in a pitch to keep her job under Andy Burnham.

Give me strength…

“For those who raised their hands—the two people who raised their hands—yesterday, a poll found that 0% of teachers think that the Education Secretary is doing a good job. She taxed private schools to pay for more teachers, but the number of teachers has gone down. It turns out that appointing a spiteful class warrior as Education Secretary was a disaster. Does the Prime Minister agree that he has been let down by her incompetence?”
https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2026-06-24/debates/E50E9137-E975-4D13-A4E2-F1B54319E788/PrimeMinister

Parliamentary privilege et al.. Go Kemi! Education has never been this bad and the SEND and funding crisis is absolutely real. Unless they sort that out properly, there won’t be any more teachers.

That poll was only of teachers in the independent sector.

Ed Miliband is like your mother’s stinky old sofa that she insists that you keep in your conservatory, part of the furniture you cannot get rid of but really should because every toddler and lab or Siamese cat has peed on it at least once.

Basically, all the champagne socialists with the working class made up sob stories that are fake and lacking in competence should be in for the chop if we a stand any chance of change and becoming a dynamic forward looking country again.

And I am pro green agenda, just not in the fake Milliband way (eg carbon capture). When sorting out the grid first is far more urgent.

Yes it’ll likely cost BP her job too.

“Bridget Phillipson’s promised 6,500 extra teachers have failed to materialise. She has been reduced to creative accounting in order to talk up historic lows in recruitment and deny the continued crisis in retention. The reasons for this are clear. It is workload, it is pay, it is a complete lack of adequate funding. Those on the frontline have no faith that help is coming.

“Educators have lost confidence in Bridget Phillipson, and Labour members have lost confidence in the government's direction. The party as a whole needs a fundamental change of direction, starting with education. That means new leadership at the top of the party and new leadership in the Department for Education.”

https://neu.org.uk/latest/press-releases/government-fails-new-polls-teachers-and-support-staff-and-labours-own-members

@blossomtoes - the NEU and state sector teachers largely feel the same! Especially about the SEND and underfunding.

Maybe you’ve got a link to a poll of state school teachers?

I don’t disagree that there is dissatisfaction (though I’m not sure teachers ever love the education secretary, as a group).

But it is disingenuous to quote a specific poll without noting that the poll was of private school teachers.

I quoted Hansard and the debate in Parliament.

And as someone who has multiple children and is in school governance and speaks to heads and deputies and teachers regularly, I do know how they feel and what the funding situation is like.

Do you know anyone with a working class made up sob story?

It was disingenuous of Badenoch to quote the poll without being clear.

It is disingenuous of you, once this was pointed out. to imply that your anecdata of state school teachers means that a state teacher poll result would be the same.

Badenoch is the more disingenuous, if that helps.

The NEU are clear.

They’re asking for Phillipson to go, the policy has been a failure.

“Do you know anyone with a working class made up sob story?”

@MulberryBrandy - yes loads. And usually revolves around going to Oxford and not being quite as privileged as the rest of them there and then carrying a chip for the rest of your life via envy.
When to the common man anyone going to Oxford and getting that chance is uber privileged and damn lucky to have been given that amazing opportunity.

I hold no particular candle for BP; my point was around the usage of the stats.

Has their been an education secretary over the years that the unions approved of?

Buller, buller, buller!

Thank you @Araminta1003

Reality is always welcome over ideology and wishful thinking.

To be clear, once you have attended Oxford or Cambridge or any other super elite institution and got a degree in your pocket you are no longer working class!!!

They obviously bought into her VAT policy and the 6,500 extra teachers.

They’ve realised what a bogus claim it was and want her out, I expect she’ll lose her job. It should be a bit of a wake up for whoever takes over. Pledging VAT type nonsense won’t work.

Oh, are the teachers’ unions now pro removing VAT on school fees?

Also, do you know if the unions have liked any Ed Sec, over the years?

State school teachers need full funding for teaching assistants and teachers who are fully trained in SEND and have access to continuous training and all children deserve early intervention and diagnosis.
That is basically it, it is not complicated.
And all schools need a schedule of infrastructure maintenance to keep buildings safe and up to date and if Milliband is so keen on the Green agenda, why not start with making our schools and hospitals energy efficient and up to date.

As said they are asking for Phillipson to go as the expectation set out over what the VAT policy would do has failed.

They believed her, many did (not sure why when it was obvious how bad it was) but it’s come back to bite and will mean she loses her job.

@MulberryBrandy - The Bulllingdon Club is part fiction now with all the Netflix etc bandwagon eg Anatomy of Scandal Riot Club etc that it has inspired. Difficult to tell what is made up and what was real.

Bit like the Labour Party Working Class Classic Champagne Socialist Sob Story. Actually surprised we do not have more Netflix drama based on it as yet! But as it is a phenomenon of my Gen X/millenial cusp generation I suspect it is still to come.

Yup.

New Statesman sets out a timeline:

https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-politics/2026/06/the-timeline-how-starmer-lost-control