Has Andy Burnham ended up as PM somewhat under false pretences?

[Imdunfer]

Please note that this is from a left wing Labour supporting paper.

It turns out that the marvellous redevelopment of Manchester that was the central plank of his credibility to become PM was triggered by the fall of Mubarak in Egypt in 2011 and what were effectively, or previously close to, bribes set up by the then Tory government to retain our massive defence contracts with the Middle East.

The owners of Man City, recently found guilty of breaking well over 100 financial football rules, are heavily involved. UK developers were excluded from access to large development contracts. Man City was sold a deal including the naming rights to the stadium, owned by the council, for £750k a year when professional rights brokers estimate the market value to be between £10m and £15m a year for the name alone.

The question is, did a local Mayor with no experience outside politics and only a tiny amount of experience of cabinet roles, (3 jobs in 3 years), get to be Prime Minister without a challenge on the strength of the development of the centre of his city that he actually only had a small part in creating?

https://www.theguardian.com/news/ng-interactive/2026/oct/25/thats-the-way-the-city-works-how-the-uae-changed-the-face-of-andy-burnhams-manchester

Hmmm… not sure that was true on day zero. One or two MPs like Wes Streeting hinted they might run, but didn’t get any takers. AB had all the momentum.

Burnham looks weak and shit out of ideas - this government’s night watchman until the GE (with luck, an early one).

Check out the latest ITV News interview.

Who would you like to see win the next GE, @Electra10E ?

None of your business, Sheila.

Let's face it he can't do anything except follow Labour's manifesto.
If he wants to 'do his own thing' he'll have to write a new manifesto and call a GE.

Ok doke. Assume not Labour, though, if you are so scathing about Burnham.

I’ll put you down for Farage. Just a guess, like.

Absolutely.

Labour already squandered two years under the wretched Starmer and Reeves,
and this budget was pathetic in its scope and ambition.

Burnham continues to waste precious time tinkering and fiddling while the hard decisions and difficult trade-offs continue to be kicked into the long grass.

Unless and until they address insanities such as an £80 billion sickness/ incapacity/disability benefits bill forecast to swell to £120 billion by 2031, a tax policy creating all the wrong incentives such as the £100K cliff edge, and motability accounting for 1 in 5 new cars sold etc., whilst dragging millions more into paying more tax anyway through fiscal drag, (all so that those with the broadest backsides continue to be nurtured and nourished), the UK will continue its inexorable decline.

Streeting probably knew it wasn't his time.

Sure, he didn’t have the support, which was my point. No one but AB had any significant support so I disagree with the premise of the OP’s question.

Anyone looked at the polls lately @Electra10E?

Woeful government.

Why? It's politics, and this is anonymous forum.

Me for example, I have never voted Tory or Labour. I hardly missed an election I could vote in. In Scotland it was SNP. England the lib dems. Another place it was the libs and the bloke down the pub. . Where I am now, I can't vote.

Surely if one is to debate politics then it is only fair to indicate ones preference when asked ?

Oh. I am firmly against Reform/ Restore/ far right. And when I discuss on here, my interest is not defending Burnham, but being against the far right. Because as a Brit not in the UK, their policies will have a massive impact on my family. ( And also, I just DO NOT LIKE the far right).

Since when has Reform been "Far Right" ??

You've open up a can of worms now! They aren't far right but MN is obsessed with the party.

Quote "....benefits bill forecast to swell to £120 billion by 2031".

When you say 2031, does that mean you think Labour will still be in power then ? Because if Farage is PM next election, surely all this stuff vanishes overnight ?

According to Reform, all we have to do is massive tax cuts, enact trickle-down economics on a scale never seen, do away with human rights, do cronyism on steroids, sink the small boats... AND... go back to lbs and inches... and the UK will be a land of milk and honey. Near instantly it seems.

Who are MN ?

Seems to me a large portion of MN posters are Reform fans. Is that what you mean ?

And they are far right. Their whole thing is to blame the "others". That is pretty high up on the 14 characteristics of...

Note. I am not a Reform voter.

Reform plan to increase the tax free allowance to £15,000 and the VAT threshold to £150,000 turnover.

That is emphatically not "trickle down economics",

Whatever.

Alas the polls do not pay people’s bills - and not everyone can be bought with a 100 quid….

Their overall economic manifesto is trickle down.

Edit to add sorry. Because how do they propose to pay for it ?

You think MNetters are extensively Reform. Thanks for the laugh. As for blaming others, that's Labour's mantra. This thread is about Burnham BTW, not the imaginary Far Right in UK politics.

What’s the balance of your current account?

Funny how some place importance on polls to suit. I remember the polls being of no significance under Starmer's leadership. Funny that.

There never going to have to, luckily for all of us.

I never saw that mentioned significantly. Indeed, it appears that the polls v reform were a major factor in getting rid of Starmer.

Or am I remembering it all totally wrong ?