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

This will all be the equivalent of fish n' chip paper in a week. The Telegraph et al will be squawking about something else.

Use whatever sources you wish as long as you attribute them. I can easily check if they’re from the Telegraph as my bloke has a subscription. No research required.

I do agree that the Labour party - like the Conservatives - will need to build broad support to achieve anything like the majority Labour have now. But I don’t think the kind of Telegraph readers who are outraged by the idea of apologising for the transatlantic slave trade are the route to that. To achieve a majority, I think what Andy Burnham needs to do is unite the centre-left and Centrists concerned about the Conservatives’ rightward shift behind him, and at the same time convince Red Wall voters he understands and can address their concerns better than Nigel Farage. I honestly don’t know if he will be able to do that, but I don’t think - what seems to me, to be - a largely confected row about reparations - will make a difference either way, and I certainly don’t think he should rethink his (so far, successful) approach to communications because of it.

Just ignore the constant aggressive badgering @1ercru

Yep. And agree with @GiaGia16

There is no aggressive badgering. Anyone who wishes to be credible attributes their sources. Nobody’s going to be “thankful” for a block of c+p that could have come from anywhere. Or at least nobody who’s up for sensible debate.

Well aren't we tetchy this morning! 😂

I don't understand why you don't want to attribute your sources. Honesty and transparency in communication are important and improve the debate.

We’ll see. The polls can move, YouGov today shows only a two point lead to Labour. Kemi could overtake.

The hypocrisy in the requests not to be quoted by you whilst constantly quoting you is staggering.

Thought the same last night.

I hadn’t seen that, brilliant.

Wow MNHQ is on the ball this morning! I assume 1ercu was a pbp as all their posts have been zapped.

Of course, I completely agree that the polls can move - I literally said in my post that I didn’t know if the Prime Minister would be able to achieve the appeal he needs to maintain the kind of majority he has has now.

My point, is that one of the things I think people like about Andy Burnham is that he doesn’t seem at all hamstrung by what the likes of the Telegraph do or don’t spin about him. It is incredibly refreshing and I personally don’t think he should change that just to appease voters who are unlikely to ever be won over by him anyway.

Here you go:

LAB: 26% (-1)
CON: 24% (+2)
RFM: 21% (+1)
LDM: 11% (=)
GRN: 10% (=)
SNP: 3% (+1)
RES: 3% (-1)

Via
@YouGov
, 1-2 Nov.
Changes w/ 25-26 Oct.

Thank you.

Ok that’s a slight shift from your earlier post. On what works for you personally v what will work for the electorate. Re the latter Kemi can be pretty happy with her leadership and poll close. Keep going and she could overtake.

I'm pretty sure we are going to see a collapse in support for Reform as time goes by and with Labour nailing their colours to a rejoin agenda that is more likely to swing back to the Conservatives. Reform picking up lots of council seats is likely to bite them since people will have actual evidence that they are terrible. Burnham's also going to have to tackle the spending reduction plans that he sold to the IMF to get the gold star for deficit deduction, which his supporters won't like.

Badenoch had a little bounce the other week too. It is very interesting to see how she waxes and wanes.

You thought that a couple of weeks ago, though, when the Tories were only one point behind. But then the gap widened again, didn’t it?

At the end of the day, it’s only one poll.

Let’s see. Posters were adamant Starmer would stay. It’s always useful when the momentum of positive press kicks in. Happy to see what happens over winter.

Not even the much read, much aligned Telegraph (below anyway).

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/kemi-badenoch-conservatives-tories-burnham-latest-polls-uk-b3078062.html

This one covers a slightly longer period than the yougov one, but goes to 2nd November too. Startling difference, but has Tories on 23% so not way out of line with yougov in that respect.

Westminster Voting Intention:

LAB: 30% (-2)
RFM: 25% (=)
CON: 23% (+2)
GRN: 8% (=)
LDM: 7% (=)
SNP: 3% (-1)

Via
@DeltapollUK
, 30 Oct - 2 Nov.
Changes w/ 23-26 Oct.