Andy Burnham looks well out of his depth. Avoiding any Parliamentary scrutiny and hiding from most journalists he looks thoroughly unprepared for becoming PM in less than two weeks.
He has already done several U turns. He has reversed his support for WASPI women, presumably on hearing the cost He has flip flopped over the fiscal rules though revealed he did not know what they were. He has revised his view of the bond market, now thinking he needs to avoid angering them.
It’s a pity someone says he is not changing policy on the give away of the Chagos and the large sums promised to Mauritius. He needs to study this a bit more. As I set out here the ICJ has no legal power to make us give the islands away. Giving it away means breaking the US/UK Treaty setting up the Diego Garcia base.
I and others raised this yesterday in the Lords. The Minister confirmed they still have worries that Mauritius might not be able to maintain the high environmental standards of the marine protected area . There was no timetable for reinstating this bad policy.
Why can’t Burnham see this is a dreadful waste of money, an undermining of a crucial defence base, a threat to our US allies and a major break in an important Treaty? He should ask the Attorney General to step down for his bad advice. He should uphold the 2024 Manifesto which promised to protect our Overseas territories.
July 7, 2026
He said that he would not change the manifesto?
July 7, 2026
So he should start by reversing the huge National Insurance Increases, get some growth policies, cut energy costs and start to Smash the Gangs plus all the other Starmer manifesto betrayals so far perhaps?
July 7, 2026
The odious, convicted, Rochdale child abuser Shabir Ahmed, who has been released from prison after serving a mere 14 years of a 22 year sentence, has apparently escaped deportation back to Pakistan, his country of origin
Civil servants in the Home Office are using “loopholes” in the 1971 Immigration Act and the 2007 UK Borders Act to prevent his immediate deportation. A further complication is that Ahmed has renounced his Pakistani citizenship and the Pakistan government has refused to take him back. Obviously, they don’t want perverts of his ilk in their country either. Ahmed is not the only one who has succeeded in this tactic; a number of his gang members who have also been released from prison are still in this country.
The Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, who is also of Pakistani extraction, should immediately cut all visas for citizens of her country who wish to travel to the UK. Cutting all British-Pakistan foreign aid would probably work
July 7, 2026
(Northern) Pakistan is, in my mind, the most beautiful country in the world (after England of course ..). The Karakoram Highway, the Karakoram mountains such as K2 and Broad Peak, Nangma Valley, Skardu, Passu Cones, lovely charming bucolic farming land and villages and apricot orchards (and the people in rural northern Pakistan are, overall, just amazing). (And it’s Buddhist as well Persian, Sufi and British influence etc). The list is endless. I don’t understand why anyone would want to leave this to come and live in some suburb in Birmingham. Poverty I guess. I’m being idealistic. But I think Pakistan has potentially so much going for it (and what a tragedy – leading to a displacement of people from one completely different geographical location and culture to another). If only it had better leaders (and we had tighter immigration).
July 7, 2026
SG,
The criminal was convicted in 2012, I believe our PM was the Director of Public Prosecution at that time. The question must now be asked why nothing was done to change the law during the fourteen years the rapist paedophile was in prison. Someone at the DPP or Home Office must have realised that he could not be deported.
The whole situation is a farce.
July 7, 2026
Rest assured – TwoTierKier has achieved his goal of a two tier society the ‘them’ & ‘us’. Right-wing agitators(the naming is the governments spin) such as Lucy Connolly for expressing horror at the murder of 3 young girls gets jail. Then we get about 50 girls who were raped, abused and trafficked by Shabir Ahmed, who has been shown to be at “high risk of sexual offending”, who is not a UK Citizen – gets what could be called a free pass. It would appear from Government platitudes they need the jail space to lock up those they deem right-wing for any reason. They are preparing the country for the next general election if it happens at all
Then the UK Parliament, wonders why the UK electorate is disillusioned with their purpose and reason to be there, as they agree ones that hold this government to account the ones that approve Burnham as their new leader, they also get to own these corrupt decisions.
July 7, 2026
Much as I would like to see the back of this man as well, we don’t want bad law drafted on the fly.
If he’s only serving 14 years of a 22 year sentence perhaps whoever is approving his early release would stand guarantor for his behaviour for the rest of the term.
July 9, 2026
That should not be optional.
July 7, 2026
Good morning.
I do not know the cost of the WASPI woman (perhaps our kind host or fellow contributor could remind me) but I bet it is a lot less than the money we promised Mauritius and Ukraine and their war with Russia.
To me it is a question of principles and priorities. The principle that, if you cause harm, even inadvertently, you compensate for the person(s) loss. As to priorities. The first priority of our government is to His Majesties Realm and his people, not the interests of others.
Those two items mentioned above should be dictating all government policy but, as we have seen, it is the inverse of that. And until this is changed, no government in my view is legitimate.
July 7, 2026
An interesting one that – WASPI. Pensions even State Pensions have a large actuarial measure attributed to the payout. The earlier you take your pension the less you get as it is based on life expectancy. Then the later you take it the more you get paid. These women ‘say’ they didn’t know about the date changes, but are currently receiving a higher amount than they would have done if the pension was taken earlier. Do they get to hand back the additional payment, do they revert to what would have been the original payout amount?
It seems not all pension rules are thrown out by the sharp practice of lawyers and ill-informed judges and MPs
As with Chagos the answer is how much do the agitating UK hating Lawyers stand to gain, and why is Parliament and its Government putting their interest above the Country its people(those that have to pay) . Paying lawyers to punish the UK when as Lord Redwood keeps alluding to there is no such ‘Law’ – it a fanciful made up ideology by those that hate the UK People
July 7, 2026
Post Office, Tainted Blood infusions, to name but two more injustices.
July 7, 2026
more obviously I would like to see some proper analysis of his time running Manchester, and as secretary of state for health. the idea that he was a success is laughable. picadilly gardens is now infested with people out of their minds on drugs and assaulting people, in my memory it was a happy place for families to play. and yet its on the main drag from the station everyone walks past. cops openly arresting white assault victims and leaving their ethnic assaulters to walk free, there for us all to see only thanks to elon. and of course the Staffordshire NHS scandal on his watch, and many of the senior staff responsible still in senior roles in the NHS and public sector.
July 7, 2026
So many NHS scandals that it is hard to keep track. The largest one surely the coercion of hundreds of millions of net harm Covid vaccines into people (most of whom did not need them even had they been remotely safe and effective).
How many more years before Lucy Letby get’s her appeal and is released the poor lass.
July 7, 2026
Good call, iain. I said all a long they will not get rid of TTK until they had someone ‘reliable’ to replace him.
July 7, 2026
Apparently Burnham changed his mind on Chagos after talking to Jonathan Powell. Powell’s close contacts with China are notorious. What did he tell Burnham that was so significant?
So far, government’s reasons for giving away Chagos are such transparent nonsense that they would not impose on a six-year-old. Why are we not told the true reason? Should we assume it is so discreditable to government, or to Labour, that it cannot be revealed?
July 7, 2026
Lord Hermer used the argument that:- if we do not deliver the dire Chagos “gift” China might take over some of the Chagos islands. But paying to “worse than give” this to Mauritius (China’s rather close friend) will somehow prevent this?
How does that work Hermer, please explain?
July 7, 2026
Why not just sell it to the US ?
Although I guess Trump would tie them up in knots, and we would just pay them instead.
We seem to be governed by fools.
July 7, 2026
How is Burnham being briefed if he still hasn’t got a grasp of the realities?
How can he not see the insanities of handing over Chagos?
Making policy off the hip is bad enough, but has he had time to absorb the whole package, the complete list of issues that sank Starmer and made him look so ineffectual.
It looks like it’s all down hill for Burnham and the UK.
July 7, 2026
It is not looking good for Labour is it? The only option Burnham has if he wishes to gain credibility and achieve legitimacy in office, is to call a general election and allow the voters the opportunity to back him or sack him.
As he claims to be in favour of devolved decision making, then let the people in their respective constituencies decide who they wish to support as the new PM.
As far as Chagos goes I thought that madness had been consigned to history?
It will be revealing to see how he treats the Lord Hermer advice, I suspect he will keep him in place and follow instructions.
We are beginning to see Burnham for what he is, a cheap veneer politician, polished but lacking quality when you check out the substance.
We need solid men and women of oak at the head of the nation not chip board Charlies like Burnham.
July 7, 2026
@Rod
I heard he had dismissed the idea of a GE to formalize his installation, like so many who criticised others for doing exactly the same thing.
There you see, confirmation already that the new king of #10 has no integrity.
July 7, 2026
There will be no early GE while Labour are still doing badly in the polls.
July 7, 2026
Donald Trump stopped all military, intelligence and financial aid to Ukraine after his infamous attempt to bully and humiliate Vladimir Zelenskyy in the Oval Office
During Independence Day (July 4, 2026), Trump found time to speak with the Russian war criminal Putin to discuss mediating an end to the Ukraine conflict, shortly before a critical NATO summit in Ankara. During the 90-minute “very good” call, Putin provided a deceitful battlefield update, discussed regional issues like Iran, and engaged on potential diplomatic solutions with Trump. Trump has regular phone calls with Putin, but does not release transcripts of their conversations
According to OSINT reports, Trump and Putin’s phone call apparently included Trump offering to help mediate a resolution to the Ukraine war based on renewed attempts to force Ukraine to accept Russian territorial demands and proposed – yet again – sending his real estate envoys Witkopf and Kushner (both with strong records of failure in peace negotiations) to Moscow. For the 9th time. While Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov noted Russia’s desire for a diplomatic settlement, the conversation included conflicting claims regarding non-existent Russian territorial advances, which Western intelligence agencies have refuted
Trump and his administration of sycophants have consistently taken the Russian side in the war and have – repeatedly – attempted to appease Putin by pressurising Ukraine into capitulating to Russian maximalist demands. etc ed
July 9, 2026
Just let them fight it out then. You prefer that?
Russia can keep killing well past the last Ukrainian if Germans, for instance, want to take their place.
Once she is not ploughing her way through press ganged Slavs, it will be much easier too.
July 7, 2026
Omission – the source of the above piece on Trump’s Independence Day telecon with the Russian war criminal Putin was ukdefencejournal.org.uk
July 9, 2026
Yes, we knew it was a joke.
July 7, 2026
You just have to wonder who’s pulling the strings. The whole coronation thing has a stink too it.
If he keeps Hermer as AG that is proof positive that external influences are in play.
Call it a conspiracy theory if you will but something is wrong.
I see the government has signed a multi million pound contract to rent and maintain Border Firce boats for 10 years. Stop the boats, really.
July 7, 2026
@Ian Wragg – the trouble with these conspiracy theories, as everyday passes the UK Parliament confirms them as ‘fact’
July 7, 2026
All that and more. Yet Burnham only ideas are to give more power to generally dire local politicians like Drakeford, Sadiq Kahn, Sturgeon… and move number 10 up North. He hardly ever says anything on immigration, the net zero lunacy or the tax to death doom loop lunacy. Ed Miliband is odds on favourite to be Chancellor.
Cannot see it ending well.
July 7, 2026
Nor does he ever discuss Net Zero which clearly has to go as does the ECHR. Plus he, like Starmer, seems very keen on backdoor EU re-entry. He is already a total disaster as the bond markets already predict and are already reacting to this.
July 7, 2026
This is really the most bizarre of all Labour policies, having no legal justification and seemingly guided by a left wing decolonisation mindset, although lawyers and the fees they earn seem to be in the background. To pay billions to retain something we already own, whilst exposing the base to malign foreign influence and threatening the integrity of the marine conservation area seems the height of madness.
July 9, 2026
The undermining of the U.K. by any and all means is consistent.
July 7, 2026
Why does he not U-turn on the Chagos pay away? I can only think his support base are the enemies of this country, who have foolishly been given the vote.
July 7, 2026
It would appear from comments about this elsewhere the very, very secretive friend of China ‘their’ (sarc) National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell is pushing for it.
That begs the question when did advisors, the ones the suggest if you do this, then that, or if that this happens you will get this – become the policy makers, ‘the rulers’ without accountability and a mandate.
July 7, 2026
He’s prone to be useless as PM or more likely dangerous, ticking over another three years before Reform UK can reverse and correct most of the errors Labour and Conservatives have caused.
July 7, 2026
Why government needs to promote Keto / Mediterranean Diet and frequent walking whilst promoting eating out in healthy restaurants to save the tax payer billions and billions of pounds in NHS bills and productivity at the work place.
INSULIN is one of our countries greatest enemies (along with high taxation and high immigration). Insulin under control is great. But out of control, it’s a killer (not just of body and mind – leading to depression – but also a killer of productivity in the work place and leads to so many social problems and problems in the family as well as being related to high alcohol consumption and other harmful addictions).
The science now is clear. SUGAR (too much) creates out of control insulin. Not just sugar but also too many carbs and unhealthy fats and not enough protein and exercise and also social interaction outside the work place which reduces stress which then reduces insulin.
It’s very simple and would save our tax payers billions and billions. OK, so who would lose out? The Food industry (because they’re promoting addictive sugary foods etc). But not to worry. Because our economy doesn’t have to lose out. Instead of wasting our money on cr-p from supermarkets, we can spend the money we save on eating out in healthy restaurants (the benefits of eating out with friends is huge to our well-being – body and mind) as well as spend more money on the gym, weekends away to go walking in the hills and staying at nice hotels and so on. Basically, the leisure and fitness industry would greatly increase at the cost of the food industry.
But even in the food industry, there is still lots of money to be made, by making quality foods (in particular, organic eggs, meat, and so on). So overall, our economy would NOT lose out. It would actually be the opposite. Healthy people work harder and so our economy overall would grow! WIN-WIN!
(Btw, meat is good – great. In particular, good quality meat with a bit of good quality fat on it. Healthy protein is in itself medicine. So our farming industry would greatly improve here as well. As well as our fishing industry as fish is so healthy – in particular omega 3 fish).
July 7, 2026
The problem here is Sugar and Carbs are far cheaper than meat, fish, dairy, olive oil and so industrial foods and restaurants will use far less of the above and coat everything in thick batter (made with flour and industrial oils, serve with endless noodles, white rice and pasta, breads & with loads of sugar even in savoury dishes too.
Asian food is very clever indeed at making a tiny bit of meat or fish/seafood feed a large number of people. Italian pasta dishes rather similar. Amazing how much batter they can get to stick to one tiny prawns or bit of squid. Quite a feat of engineering!
July 8, 2026
But if people are bothered to research what they’re eating at home, then restaurants are more likely to meet the needs of customers. And maybe it won’t lead to more people going to more restaurants, but it will certainly leave people healthier, more productive, and with spare money to spend which they can spend on other things.
(And you do save money at home by healthy eating and exercise. 1. There ARE cheap, good foods 2. Big problem is that we’re eating far too much anyway including goods foods so you would save money at home by eating a lot less 3. We should be doing (intermittent) fasts which is so good for the body and where you would also be saving money on food not being eaten).
July 7, 2026
WITHOUT insulin you die of course.
Carbs turn to glucose in the blood stream very quickly indeed carbs (bread, rice, potato, root vedge, batter, pasta, biscuits, most flours, excessive fruits especially tropical ones… are really very little different to sugar in this respect. Test yourself with a £20 blood glucose tester.
Worth checking anyway to see if you have an issue many do not realise, as is blood pressure worth checking with another £20 tester.
July 7, 2026
What relevance does this have to Burnham and the Chagos Islands?
July 7, 2026
Of all the poor decisions made by this government, handing over chagos islands is by far the most anti British, anti democratic, politically damaging proposal. Why to Mauritius, I.e. china. Why hand over then have to pay for something we now possess. WHY NOT ASK THE CHAGOSIAN PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT.
July 7, 2026
@Robert Mcdonald – asking the people, the people affected, dream on that would imply democracy, this UK Parliament doesn’t do Democracy.
July 7, 2026
Thank you Lord-R for keeping this topic in the spot light
July 7, 2026
Labour’s new Messiah is proving to be nothing of the sort.
Starmer’s so-called team had years to prepare for government and what a mess they made of it !
The Manchester Yokel had no idea what he’s getting into, and persisting with giving away Chagos and £35bn, both of which our military desperately need, proves it.
We always knew that Labour’s ministerial pool was woefully lightweight, and so it has proved.
Starmer has lost several good people and Burnham’s cabinet is likely to be worse. At least Theeves will be gone from the Treasury but if he even thinks of replacing her with Miliband E, we are sunk
July 7, 2026
A left field question, promoted by the demands in the media to day for more pay by the BMA. Why is Government involved with defining remuneration of individuals that are primarily self-employed contractors working for NHS & Foundation Trusts and also Private Hospitals at the same time with each of those entities as suggested as having control of their own expenditure?
Then the follow up as the Minister for Health is an England only position why do they sit in on UK matters? Scotland, NI & Wales have their own Independent version of health ministers? Therefore the Minister for Health for England is not in a position to talk to the BMA
Is the BMA (British Medical Association) demand from the English only Minister for Health just for those working in England or do they want the Taxpayer to fund there members in the whole of the UK?
Devolution, as with Nationalisation, then Privatisation all fanciful ideology driven, drivel that is not thought through by a UK Parliament not fit for purpose. Now we get another diversion from the ‘job’ a No10 of the North with its own look alike Chairman Mao.
You can see why logicaly people say we need less Government, as we keep ending up with numpties that don’t comprehend that UK.plc is an international business competing on the international stage for its future – as its stands the UK Parliament is not fit for purpose
July 7, 2026
Sticking with the Chagos Island policy suggests that something that is purely anti-British or venal is going on. Any government would try to avoid paying the money – the judicial decision is not binding!
July 7, 2026
“Why can’t Burnham see this is a dreadful waste of money, an undermining of a crucial defence base, a threat to our US allies and a major break in an important Treaty?”
Of course they do. That’s why they’re doing it. BTW, the EU has a fishing deal with Mauritius so I expect Mauritius to be selling the rights for the EU to fish the Chagos Islands. I doubt they’ll be just giving away the right for the EU to fish these islands unlike our Civil Service who did so with its 12 year EU fishing extension with nothing in return.
July 7, 2026
Are we sure that this Mauritius/China/Chagos deal has not already been signed? It may be hidden from us by a super injunction now that the judiciary are in league with the Civil Service.
July 7, 2026
President Trump has indicated his readiness to take control of Chagos and protect native rights and the environment all at NO COST to the UK.It’s a no-brainer even to politocos lacking a functioning brain
July 7, 2026
Burnham generally just as his predecessors has fallen for the Socialist/Marxist WEF led lie. Tax is everything, wreaking a Nation and its People is next. They forget, or maybe just don’t want to know all their aspiration can only be fulfilled by the often-quoted phrase created by James Carville ‘the economy stupid’.
Its ever so simple and is practised by the majority of people in the UK, to spend more you first need to earn more.
The UK Parliament is so conditioned and hypnotised into the belief that tax is income that they haven’t a clue can no longer process the notion that that income comes from earning, they ability to earn.
July 7, 2026
Chagos to cost around £35 billion, all to come out of a non-existent defence budget
July 7, 2026
Maybe better than spending it on flying Afghans to the U.K.
July 7, 2026
HMG is, we are told, acting on the basis of legal advice and our national security, to secure for 99 years the long-term future of the military base. What is it that we do not yet know or understand. What is it that we are perhaps not being told. If we chose not to hand over to Mauritius, what is it that the current and future UK governments would be faced with or not be able to do exactly, in order to achieve the same national security and base retention in the coming years. It seems as clear as mud.
July 7, 2026
Never a Farage or a Reform fan, other than knowing the the UK Political and Establishment structure needs a complete overhaul.
So we now see a “people versus the establishment election”.
How about the UK Parliament standing down? Those that think there is something called an establishment and that they are the only ones ‘entitled’ as paid up members of the Cabal. Do they need reminding whom they serve who pays their wages and who lends them their powers? I believe so.
In this UK Parliament we have and organisation fighting the people, in fear of the people – simply thinking they are the entitled ones. The Norman Barons of old with their surfs on their knees that are there to obediently serve, there to provide for their masters, the UK Parliament has got things upside down. When will Burnham they appointed one ask permission? or is he just another entitled Baron.
i would like to think Farage has set the ‘cat among the pigeons’ but I fear not the Establishment has such a hold of the Nation they will bend and twist everything to secure their position as ‘Overlords’
July 9, 2026
Wait for the Standards & Privileges Committee Report (next week I believe).
Farage will have seen it.
He wants to fight a by-election on the ‘I have done nothing wrong’ platform.
Let’s see if he stands in the second by-election after the Report has been considered by the House.
Nobody has the right to sit in their own judgement, it’s a basic Common Law principle.
Reply Nigel Farage claims he broke no rules. He is innocent until proven guilty. We will not know until the Committee reports.
July 7, 2026
of some later significance and topic for debate Mr.Farage has resigned as a constituency MP but
will stand again if selected by the constituency Reform party.
Our host is an-unreconstructed conservative.All due respect.For once,perhaps,is he of a mind to
be open about Reform given that Ms Badenoch isn’t hitting bull on Old Tories dart board?
July 7, 2026
Why would anyone of sound mind give away their property for free, and allow the beneficiaries to charge them rent for remaining on site? Labour has no idea about how business works and should step down before they give away the rest of OUR country.
July 7, 2026
The China connection?
Labour has been accused of siding with the Chinese Communist Party against a Hong Kong dissident who fled to Britain.
Chloe Cheung, 21, who has a £100,000 bounty on her head after taking part in pro-democracy protests in 2019, applied for indefinite leave to remain in the UK in May.
The Government has been accused of “legitimising the persecution of innocent Hong Kongers” in its treatment of Ms Cheung, who left Hong Kong and moved to Britain with her family in 2020.
Her family can stay? From here that seems a more legitimate request for asylum than those escaping the EU by boat.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/07/05/home-office-sided-with-beijing-against-hong-kong-dissident/
July 7, 2026
I remember Mrs Thatcher saying that although Yes Minister etc was a favourite programme, in Yes Prime Minister she commented that ‘it’s not that easy to become PM’.
We live in literally incredible times. A woman who did not get a single O level has been Deputy PM and now a man less informed than the average housewife (and probably less able) stands on the Nr 10 doorstep.
Previous British generations would simply not believe our current condition.
July 8, 2026
Yes irnham shoukd do all that you say but why do you think there is any chance that he will?