Andy Burnham might be on a publicity tour to show how different he is from Keir Starmer – and, perhaps, why he might make a great replacement as prime minister – but it seems to be having the opposite effect on MPs and other attendees at Labour’s conference.
Almost no-one in Liverpool has a good word to say for the government’s current performance, but similarly almost no-one is thrilled by the Manchester mayor’s recent intervention, for reasons almost as diverse as those behind discontent at the government itself.
The anger of the remaining Starmer loyalists – mostly ministers – is easy enough to explain: seeing a prominent Labour politician repeatedly attack the PM who won a landslide election just a year ago is infuriating.
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But there is a broader group who potentially might be a lot more open to the idea of a Burnham comeback who have taken offence at Burnham’s tactics. One veteran insider explained that there is “a way these things are done” – if you’re being talked up as a successor, you make yourself visible but stay personally loyal. You stick to your message of ‘I love my job, I love my party, I want to see it win’ and let others do the dirty work. By so obviously dirtying his own hands, Burnham has tarnished his own brand.
Others think he’s simply blowing the politics, raising fears that if he replaced Keir Starmer they might “replace one political incompetent with another”. Burnham, they note, has been a Blairite, a soft-lefter, committed to the north and sick of Westminster, a Leaver and a Remainer, during his long political career. Now, in the last week, Burnham even managed to appear to endorse Trussonomics, even as he gave No. 10 ample reason to block his return as an MP. Are his instincts any better than the current PM’s?
One MP who was otherwise sympathetic to Burnham – and certainly not a loyalist to Starmer – neatly summarised the mood. “Andy Burnham could make a great Labour leader in three-four years’ time,” he said, “if he’d just shut the fuck up right now.”
