KEVIN MAGUIRE: ‘It’s time for Andy Burnham to be a naughty boy and grow to be Labour’s new messiah’
Comeback kid Andy Burnham must be a very naughty boy to be Labour’s and the UK’s messiah.
To “fix the big things” he knows he must be bold and radical or raised expectations will quickly be replaced by fresh disillusionment. So that means putting extra money into people’s pockets, raising living standards, improving public services, designing a welfare system that works and creating a viable care system.
It also means convincing voters that net migration and boats are really down, putting the hope he wants in every heart with his politics of place. To do all that, Burnham must confront powerful vested interests profiting from business as usual, championing the can doers over the can’t dos, demanding Yes not No as answers to testing questions.
The stakes could not be higher and we are about to discover whether the man from Manchester, who seized power through a bloodless parliamentary coup, will walk his talk when he steps into Keir Starmer’s shoes on the doorstep of Downing Street. It is game on with a Burnham bounce and Nigel Farage’s financial scandals putting Labour level in one poll, Reform’s lead slashed to a single point in another.
But Burnham either hits the ground running fast or he will stumble and be tripped up by the blockers. Taking public ownership and control of the essentials is crucial.
For example, rescuing the sinking Thames Water desperately needs renationalisation, not a taxpayer bail-out, before – like the banks after the great global financial crash in 2008 – it is returned to spivs who holed it in the first place.
We will discover how ambitious he may be through Cabinet appointments with Labour reformers and the Left already worried that a Shabana Mahmood touted as Chancellor of the Exchequer would be a fiscal small “c” conservative Chancellor unlikely to shift wealth and power.
Burnham, third time lucky after two disastrous leadership campaigns, deserves a decent hearing for the breathtaking audacity of his rapid march from Manchester via -Makerfield to Westminster. He knows, Labour knows, this is the party’s and the country’s second chance, and there’ll be no third.
Fortune favours the brave, as I’ve often argued in this column, which is why it is time for Burnham to be a very naughty boy and challenge everyone and everything that has gone wrong, from Thatcher onwards, and become the new messiah.
You’ve bin shamed
Roll up, roll up! The circus is coming to Clacton-on-Sea and Nigel Farage is the unfunniest clown in British political history.vThe record 34 candidates standing in the beleaguered Reform leader’s backfiring by-election show why Count Binface is the serious choice for voters.
Nick The Incredible Flying Brick, Baron Von Thunderclap, Howling Laud Hope, a vile Laurence Fox backed by Far-Right thug Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (aka hooligan Tommy Robinson) and a smorgasbord of oddballs leave miscalculating Nasty Nige grimacing.
Labour, Greens, Libs, Cons and Restore refuse to play miscalculating Farage’s game, which means he has already lost face and credibility. Win the unnecessary August 13 ballot and the result will be worthless, meaningless, a Pyrrhic victory that will not stop the inquiry into Farage’s secret £5million bung and a genuine second by-election as well as investigations into Reform’s barrowloads of funny money.
The man with a bin on his head beats the greedy professional politician in clown shoes and Farage will have tripped himself up. This contest is going to be great fun.
Footie sign Argie Bargy
Rugby, cricket and football boycotts that helped free Nelson Mandela and end white-only apartheid rule in South Africa proved sport and politics do mix, yet we shouldn’t get carried away over that “Las Malvinas son Argentinas” bedsheet banner.
Yes, it was classless as well as debatable and a clear breach of the Fifa rules that even banned rainbow hats. But Lib Dem sheep Ed Davey turning wolf to demand bans for Argentina’s players made England fans sound like bad losers.
The Falklands Islands 8,000 miles from Britain are an empire hangover – but an Argentina 300 miles away is also imperial in believing the wishes of 2,000 people, who overwhelmingly wanted the UK to remain in the EU by the way – can just be ignored. It’s far better that footballers wave signs than folk die in wars.
Tories’ Rightwards lurch
The fact that economy-crashing fruitcake Liz Truss is welcome in Kemi Badenoch’s Conservative Party but moderate Gavin Barwell isn’t tells us a lot about the Tories’ Rightwards lurch.
Barwell, a peer and former Theresa May chief of staff, was purged for continuing to support green energy goals and staying in the European Convention on Human Rights – both Conservative policies when Badenough was a minister.
Nobody seriously buys an official explanation he lost the whip for sidestepping a meeting with the Tory enforcer in the Lords because intolerant Badenough herself declared net zero and ECHR defenders were “not serious” and no longer welcome.
Going up
Old trooper Neil Kinnock is finally getting the plaudits he deserves. One of the best PMs Britain never had was hailed an inspiration by the newest, Andy Burnham.
Going down
Good riddance to the £1.8billion digital ID scheme. It would be a huge annoyance and bad bosses would still illegally exploit workers.
Speaker’s corner
“If we’re still using oil and gas [which we are], importing it instead of producing it at home doesn’t change the climate impact. It does change who gets the jobs, who gets the tax revenues to fund our public services and who controls our energy security and national resilience.” – Al Carns, Royal Marine turned Labour MP, nails why we should use a near-dry North Sea while boosting green power.
