KEVIN MAGUIRE: ‘Andy Burnham is a fearless PM who desires no person to be doubtful about what he desires’
Brother Burnham, Red Andy, promising a sharp Left turn is the audacity of British hope.
The country he wishes to rise again would radically improve the lives of millions kept behind.
On housing, water, energy and transport he forcefully argued that taking back control by reversing failed sales of the family silver are popular and in the public interest.
Jeremy Corbyn might’ve nodded in approval if he was still in the Labour Party. Tony Blair was probably shaking his in disbelief.
Burnham certainly doesn’t lack ambition or courage, even telling the truth about a bad Brexit predecessor Keir Starmer in No 10 largely preferred ignoring to avoid punching old bruises.
This is a confident, fearless Prime Minister who wants nobody, friend or foe, to be in any doubt about what he believes and stands for instead of blurring political lines.
And after that visionary true Labour programmed delivered from the heart as well as the head in Liverpool, that particular goal was scored.
Yet significant T&Cs apply, as ever, and I’ve three. The first is whether the PM walks the talk on housing, water and energy though he’s sprinting on buses and trains.
Burnham’s also on solid ground building council houses but full restoration of public ownership, renationalisation, isn’t on the horizon for water and power and tougher regulations may never deliver for fleeced customers rather than greedy owners.
The second is big ticket plans like a social care revolution and fairer votes would be the next side of an election he’d need first to win and may be as late as Summer 2029 which is nearly three years off.
That’s a lifetime away for frail and vulnerable folk who require care now and will be forced to sell homes to die with dignity.
And my third is why, when Burnham’s vowing to reverse the worst of Thatcherism, would he repeat in 2030 her 1980 break between state pension rises and average earnings when that Tory cruel cut impoverished many elderly.
But his was an inspirational statement of intent, a democratic socialist direction of travel Gordon Brown would like to have trod and Harold Wilson did. Clement Attlee, the PM who gifted us the NHS and whose spirit Burnham conjured, was truly in a league of his own in a different era.
It’s obvious Burnham after his Manchester Mayor days is a more determined, formidable leader from the Blairite triangulator who fumbled tilts at the Labour crown in 2010 and 2015.
He was always a genuine bloke, mind, tears talking about dad Roy’s death a fortnight ago the emotion of a man highly relatable precisely because he’s the real deal.
What’s also welcome is Burnham setting the bar high for himself and a rejuvenated UK Labour Government rediscovering a purpose.
Ahead in most polls, projected to be Parliament’s biggest party should the snap election he’s knocked on the head be held immediately, profiting from huffy Nigel Farage’s Reform sleaze, Burnham has good cause to be optimistic.
Walking the talk, however, will ultimately determine whether he succeeds or stumbles as PM and Britain flourishes or nightmarishly lurches into Hard Right hate.
The challenge is enormous. So too the responsibility.
