From my Conservative Home article
Mr Burnham has set himself up to fail. He looks backward to the 1980s. This was an era which most voters did not live through. He seeks to refight old battles which Labour lost by miles at the time. Having a distorted view of history is bad modern politics ignoring the experiences and preoccupations of modern electors and running the risk of getting them to tune out. It clouds his judgement about what is needed now to revitalise the economy, boost jobs and restore confidence as it is based on a false analysis of what happened in the 1970s and 1980s.
Most people who lived through those decades remember the financial and industrial collapse under Labour in the 1970s followed by the very strong recovery and rebuilding after 1981 led by Margaret Thatcher.
Mr Burnham wrongly thinks private capital and competition which blew as a reviving wind through the socialist 1970s economy a few years later are the cause of modern troubles. When tried in the 1980s they gave us rapid growth, many new jobs and a big boost to tax revenues. He should think again. Our car industry which had slumped in the 1970s doubled its output. Now as then the biggest problems come from monopolies, state mismanagement and ill directed regulation.
Labour already has a Post Office and British Steel in the public sector losing fortunes each year with no plans on how to save all the jobs and turn round the businesses mired in losses. They inherited a largely nationalised, heavily loss making, rail industry which does not allow competitors to bid to run different and better services.
They wish to double down on the poor performance of the monopoly by stifling what remains of private finance and initiative. More of the delays and cancellations came from mistakes of long nationalised Network Rail than from the private sector train operating companies.
No-one today thinks we should renationalise British Telecom and recreate a state monopoly. When we had one such it rationed access to phone lines, limited the equipment you could add to the network and kept the UK years behind the US in technological developments. Privatisation and the advent of competition led to exploding growth.
It rescued our services driven economy that needed so much more capacity and flexibility in communications and data than the old state owned BT provided. The great success in expanding our financial services sector depended on access to more and better telecommunications. It was the private sector that developed mobile phones and later the much needed broadband networks with fibre optic cable. Nationalised BT ran on copper cables, electro mechanical not electronic switches and wired in fixed telephones.
Today Mr Burnham wants to nationalise water, seizing on the strong public anger about sewage discharges to rivers and the recent high price rises these regulated private monopolies have inflicted on customers. He will discover that nationalisation will make the problems worse, as they did when we had a fully nationalised set of monopoly water companies prior to 1989. The faults of the industry today are the same as they were then. They stem from monopoly, not from private ownership.
One of the last acts of the nationalised industry was to poison some water users from the Camelford works. In the hot, dry summer of 1976 large numbers of customers lost all supply of water to their homes and had to queue to fill buckets from street standpipes. The nationalised industry could never get enough public money to expand and modernise its facilities as it needed to do. How would today be any better, when public spending pressures are acute and the state is already borrowing far too much?
Putting water onto the public accounts would greatly add to the strains. After all, the whole point is the regulated industry did not invest enough either thanks to strict controls on new capital so we need to spend a fortune on bigger pipes, more treatment works and new reservoirs.
Mr Burnham sees that the UK is way off being able to deliver the 1.5 million homes over five years Labour promised. It will be pushing it to do 200,000 a year, not 300,000. Instead of asking himself how the government has driven mortgage related interest rates so high through its own excessive borrowing, or why people struggle to pay the extortionate Stamp duties on homes, he has decided that the state can build and pay for more homes instead. He wants to provide more Council homes, though he probably means more social housing through Housing Associations. He will find that this imposes more strains on state finance and will come nowhere near the numbers required to hit the pledged 1.5 million 2024-9.
Everything Mr Burnham says is geared to polling and to his immediate political task, self defined as seeing off the voting threat from Reform. As Prime Minister he will be judged more by what he does than what he says. He will discover it will not matter how he spins it if the underlying reality of people’s lives is different to his honeyed tongue account. Labour MPs brought him in as Leader because he beat the Reform candidate in Makerfield. They misread that election. It wasn’t Labour that won the election. It was the anti Starmer candidate with the power to topple the PM if he got elected.
Mr Burnham is right about one thing. People want change. They are angry about depressed standards of living and high prices. He is wrong in thinking you need to put our taxes up to solve that, as it is the high taxes that cause much of the anger and stress in family budgets. We can afford the 45 per cent of the petrol price that goes to the oil company, but not the 55 per cent that is tax for the government. Home buyers are put off by high Stamp duties. Business people cannot afford to offer more jobs to young people because of the high costs of National Insurance. Farmers are giving up because of the Farms tax, and because the grants are now given out to stop them growing food instead of to help them farm.
In Mr Burnham’s world, more income and benefits come from the state in a crazy money-go-round where many have to pay more tax, to get some of it back as subsidy because the tax has done so much damage. The nationalised steel industry has to pay huge energy and carbon taxes, only to get a subsidy to pay the resulting losses.
It all creates work for administrators to do, taking the money off us and giving back some of it after a big handling charge.
Mr Burnham is also split over his lack of mandate and the need to stick to Labour’s Manifesto which he did not stand on. It did not contain a lot of positive change in it. He would be well advised to cancel the tax rises, the giveaways of our overseas territories and the other obvious violations of the Manifesto by the Starmer government but I doubt that will occur to him as a good
July 31, 2026
You refer to ‘the socialist 1970s economy’. Some of us recall the great achievements of that decade when the ‘socialist’ Ted Heath took us into Europe.
Reply Name a success. Socialist Heath introduced comprehensive wage,price and dividend controls which of course failed to control the inflation he caused. The Labour replacement government turned the inflation into a run away inflation and a visit to the IMF for a bail out. Membership of the EEC led to a collapse of a lot of our not very competitive industry with high unemployment as tariff protection was removed.
July 31, 2026
Some of us recall shops being lite by Tilley Lamps and having our wages frozen.
July 31, 2026
In the 1970s a Brain Drain of talented Brits left for USA, Canada and Australia etc where opportunities expanded. Why?
The bottom line – You couldn’t SAVE any money in Britain – unlike other advanced countries!
It is still true to this day in the 21st Century!
Think about that….
July 31, 2026
Indeed.
So what have Kemi and Burnham, Miliband or his defence secretary got to say about the mass invasion of Spanish territory? Nothing it would seem.
July 31, 2026
According to @bbcr4news World at One, the issue with 50,000 of Moroccans? swarming into Spain is it can be “exploited” by right-wing parties.
Is that really what the BBC types see as the problem?
July 31, 2026
According to Sky News the UK government has offered to help – perhaps by taking half of them here.
July 31, 2026
The lefts mouth piece, the BBC, is on record as saying it was just a few hundred that found their way into Spanish Territory,
Don’t be surprised if our new Foreign Secretary has not already been on the phone to Spain offering to take them of their hands
July 31, 2026
Burnham has a video comment on it. People are concerned. Blah, blah, blah. Claims Mahmood will handle it. He will go to see what Border Force are doing. Finished by saying ‘numbers are down’.
No real change – just more waffle.
July 31, 2026
Notwithstanding the damage done, high inflation in the 1970s had the effect of reducing mortgage debts and probably halving some, whilst wages increased substantially unlike Weimar Germany in the 1920s which had to pay its debts in gold or foreign currency.
Many of those who bought houses in the 1970s and Right to Buy in the 1980s are now suffering disapproval for their comfortable situation even though it was taking advantage of a situation caused by politicians.
August 1, 2026
It was incredibly difficult to buy a house in the ‘70s. Inflation and high interest rates meant that you had to be able to cover incredible potential interest rates on mortgages. In real terms everyone was worse off.
July 31, 2026
Unfortunately we have been reduced to ‘political parties’ which do not even consider the obligation to deliver what they say they will in their manifesto.
We have competing Narcissists who say whatever wins the argument – or campaign – on the day. And they drive each other into more mad and undeliverable ‘promises’, indeed I don’t believe they even comprehend that they are making promises – they compete on the virtue signalling rules which mean that you say whatever trumps your opponent in the ‘I’m the nicest person stakes’.
It like watching the Miss World Competition of old: ‘I want to get rid of poverty, war and injustice, unlike the rest of you squares’.
A politician of old would admit that it is impossible to get rid of poverty, war and injustice and try to deliver honest money and defended borders’.
We need some sort of binding obligation from elected political parties which do not even attempt to deliver their Manifesto – involving the Chiltern Hundreds.
July 31, 2026
‘Levelling up in every postcode’?
Giving money to mayors to spend is worse than leaving it to MPs.
So many bankrupt councils like Croydon who dabbled in property but had no clue what they were doing.
Teesside where local insiders make a fortune because of Sunak’s stupid regeneration ideas.
Then you have ( people ed) like Lutfur Rahman who turn up again after being sacked, on the back of an ethnic vote.
July 31, 2026
“Giving money to mayors to spend is worse than leaving it to MPs.” Better still leave it with the people who made it and know how to invest and use it properly. Saves on all the collection and admin costs too.
“A politician of old would admit that it is impossible to get rid of poverty, war and injustice and try to deliver honest money and defended borders’.” Indeed or equality or even fairness and would concentrate on defence, border controls and law and order.
August 1, 2026
Burnham’s left out one word regarding the Mayors ‘giving them YOUR money to spend’.
Who applauded?
July 31, 2026
Sounds like they know what it takes to get a vote out of the gullible electorate.
July 31, 2026
Privatisation is not the answer in every given scenario.
It failed to work for the railways as was discussed yestwrday and sadly it has rather not helped the water industry – to put it mildly – alongside excessive housing development to cater for out of control immigration, badly affecting SE England particularly.
There is an argument for privatisation.. but not at any price as we witness the failures repeatedly today.
Reply Monopoly is the problem. Successful privatisation requires competition. Public monopolies are usually worse than regulated private monopolies but both are bad.
July 31, 2026
It wasn’t privatisation that was the problem for the water industry, but the way it was privatised. It should have been given to the customers (who as British citizens it was theirs anyway) with free shares they can’t sell but surrender when they ceased being customers.
There might be a way to get it this way if the fines were in the form of shares given to a customer trust, instead of the financial fine that doesn’t compensate the customer. Successive failures would transfer ownership to the customer without cost to the taxpayer.
July 31, 2026
Passenger journeys
1994–95 ~735 million
2025–26 1.83 billion
July 31, 2026
The NHS and Schools are virtually state monopolies by design. This as you are forced to pay for the state system use it or not. You have to pay four times over to use private health care or private schools. Yet the fair competition authorities never intervene for fair competition between State and the private sector.
July 31, 2026
In the same way Labour under Starmer gained power just by not being the Conservatives, Burnham gained power by not being Starmer.
In both cases reassuring messages were sent out while unpopular plans were concealed.
There will be an issue funding all the things Burnham wants to do. Big tax increases are hinted at. It is not clear whether these would be implemented immediately or after the next election.
He has not addressed big issues like illegal immigration at all. It has all been small stuff.
The wheels may come off before then. He relies on ‘hope’ and positivity in his pronouncements,
Maybe he is hoping an alliance of the Left – Labour, Lib Dems, Greens plus those reliant on state handouts or employed by government will see him through?
July 31, 2026
There is the old saying “A Pig with lipstick on is still a Pig”
In this case I suspect it’s not lipstick being used, just mascara…
July 31, 2026
Yes ‘hope’ features a lot doesn’t it. I wonder if it’s anything to do with those hard left curtain twitchers from Hope Not Hate being in an advisory role?
August 1, 2026
And of course Prof. Matthew Goodwin – he’s from Hope not Hate too – did you know?
July 31, 2026
“Maybe he is hoping an alliance of the Left – Labour, Lib Dems, Greens plus those reliant on state handouts or employed by government will see him through?”
Yes, expect changes to the voting system to help this to happen.
July 31, 2026
If only the Conservative Party had not let its voters down so badly since it came into power after the last disastrous Labour government, the country wouldn’t be in the dire mess it is now. I will always be upset and bitter about that. I honestly thought I would be a life-long Tory voter but Prime Ministers David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak – and the Conservative politicians that stood by and allowed the destruction, have destroyed my faith. The only Prime MInister I haven’t mentioned, Liz Truss, is the one that wasn’t even given a chance. Whoever coined the term ‘the uniparty’ got it dead right.
July 31, 2026
+100
July 31, 2026
@ Kathy
+1
July 31, 2026
@Kathy +1
All true conservatives sing this ballad. Will the party, the gran old party ever return?
July 31, 2026
Correct.
July 31, 2026
You mention a ‘distorted view of history’ and ‘what most people who lived through those decades remember’.
I don’t believe there is one view of history. I certainly don’t believe what the media tell me about the 1970s.
I remember full employment.
Homelessness was traditional tramps rather than youngsters sleeping on the streets.
There was rampant inflation, but wages went up
The three day week did not bother me at all. It was a couple of extra days off work
Same with the so-called Winter of Discontent. I read about it in newspapers but it did not affect my life.
The famed ‘swinging sixties’ ? It was not like that around my way,
Nostalgia may play a part. They claim that for many people the times when they were around ten years old are often viewed through rose tinted glasses as the ideal era.
July 31, 2026
Unemployment in September 1976 was 6.1% – I don’t think they collected sickness data then.
6.1% of a generally indigenous workforce where women had not fully entered the workforce represents a lot of men in the pubs and clubs.
July 31, 2026
NS,
“So has genuine full employment ever been achieved in the post industrial world? “Of course we’ve had it,” says the economist Lord Skidelsky. “Between 1950 and 1973 unemployment averaged 2% and was always well under one million.” ( source BBC – yes I know)
Then the big employers started to shut down. Industrial wastelands appeared.
I always had plenty of work. Even at school Saturday jobs and a couple of weeks in Easter holidays – longer in Summer.
July 31, 2026
Up to 73 is quite early in the 70s and not indicative of the decade I feel
August 1, 2026
Truth is truth and facts are facts. What your mind chooses to ‘remember’ if at odds with the facts is irrelevant.
July 31, 2026
One has to ask how Burnham got to be PM when 3 months ago he wasn’t even a politician. He is a man without a plan but there are sime dark forces behind him who definitely have a plan.
Him continuing with the Chagos car crash and continuing to cosy up to Brussels are not going to generate growth or tax receipts. His prevarication over approving exploration of the North which will generate taxes and secure good well paid jobs is puzzling.
He is not old enough to realise the dire state of Britain when Maggie took over in 79 so we can o ly assume that his agenda is being driven by the unions who saw the 70s as the Halcyon days for them.
We have a lot more pain to come before these Fabians are removed and normal service resumed.
July 31, 2026
Good question. I believe because he was not TTK and was not tainted by incompetence and sleaze like the rest of the Front Bench. He was known in the North which is Labour’s heartlands and, where it will retreat to after the next GE. Burnham and his Number 10 North is pure spin to cement a foot hold there.
July 31, 2026
IW,
Burnham is polling well – at the moment, in the honeymoon period.
Meanwhile swollen-faced journalist Stephen Daisley writes off Farage in The Spectator – also on the basis of polls.
This seems like wishful thinking. There was constant talk about Starmer’s clothes and spectacles and who paid for them. Burnham gets the same press. Will he wear a suit ? How much did his clothes cost in an attempt to look more like the electorate.
Nobody ever mentions Farage clothes. He wears city suits and country clothes. No other politician would ever risk bright yellow corduroy trousers. Who funded Farage and the consequences are hot press – but he was definitely more popular than both Starmer or Burnham before this emerged.
July 31, 2026
@Ian Wragg as @Mark B said he wasn’t TTK. TTK found power because he wasn’t the pseudo Tories who deserted their electorate. Just around 1 in 5 of the electorate supported TTK, the bulk of the country were disenfranchised and to a certain extent still are.
We need the next GE done and out the way, then hopefully things will improve for the one after that
July 31, 2026
‘ We need the next GE done and out the way, then hopefully things will improve for the one after that’
I don’t think there is a saviour waiting to be voted in.
It probably requires violent protest but Britain is not as inclined to that, or as good at it, as our continental neighbours.
July 31, 2026
Yes was around and working in the 1960’s so remember well the situation at the time, and what followed in the following years,.
Then it was all about Union strikes, power and control, the Balance of Trade payment deficits, loans from the IMF, very high taxation, unemployment, devaluation, and even a limit on how much you could legally be allowed to take as spending money when going on a foreign holiday !
Then Local Councils looked after the roads, lopped trees, cleared ditches, sucked out drains, swept pavements, looked after playing fields, parks had a gardener who planted flowers and cut the grass. they maintained schools and Council housing, street lights, and cleared pavements and roads when it snowed.
Now they are simply a giant redistribution centre of taxes and money for benefits and fines.
So then Government had failed but the local Authorities still did what they were supposed to do.
Thatcher certainly dragged the government back to some sort of control for a short period and things started to look better but:
Now it would seem everything has failed !
July 31, 2026
the Balance of Trade payment deficits, very high taxation, unemployment, devaluation,
Plus ca change
July 31, 2026
john, you make the same mistake as Burnham by not mentioning immigration, legal and illegal, as being the biggest issue of the voters and country. he doesn’t mention it because he has no credible story or action. you are the opposition you should rip him apart on his biggest weakness.
Reply I do. I did a big interview on Talk tv yesterday calling on government to stop paying France for failing to stop the boats and proposing international court action against them for letting unsafe boats depart! I have often set out the case against mass migration here.
July 31, 2026
but when you summarise what needs doing to fix the uk down to a few sentences Elon and Trump do a far better job than anyone here.
July 31, 2026
It is alarming that leading figures of an ally have to warn us about what is going wrong here, as if our own leadership is unaware, doesn’t care or intentionally wants things to go bad continuously.
July 31, 2026
indeed, as far as I can see we are at war, being invaded, by people who rape and kill us, steal our intellectual property, abuse our benefits and health care systems, etc. and the only people who cannot see it are our own ruling class. spain and uk should invoke nato membership and ask for help to shut our borders, and enforce the basics of decency.
August 1, 2026
The way Burnham is heading one could imagine an asylum seeker in every postcode!
July 31, 2026
I was around in the 60s and 70s when the economy was dominated by unions and nationalised. There were power cuts and cables.
Today, we have had power cuts in London. The National Grid was nationalised to become Neso and recently whistle-blower engineers told the Opposition that the grid was operating too close to safety margins. The Nationalised bosses condemned the engineers for bringing the company into disrepute. They are depending on imports from Europe but the adverse weather is also affecting them, with nuclear power stations closing for lack of river water and the need for aircon. The anti cyclone is bringing low winds in summer as it can in winter. Gas stations are keeping us going for now but are going to close before long.
The Mancunian Candidate has decided to appoint a minister to replace Mad Ed with another Oxford PPE and LSE who appears to understand sums as well as her predecessor. This time I’m relying on 12v car batteries instead of candles.
July 31, 2026
I like it 😁😉
July 31, 2026
Candles not cables. [Phone correction]
July 31, 2026
In the 1970s my father sold candles in his motor parts store. You could buy some brake shoes for your Allegro and a few candles for the next power cut.
July 31, 2026
Prices candles in Battersea were flooded with spivs looking to buy up stocks to sell on at a profit.
Their salesmen traditionally sold candles for the Winter months but mostly vinegar and sauce during the rest of the year.
July 31, 2026
Excellent analysis Lord Redwood.
July 31, 2026
It is not privatisation that improves services and keep prices down but competition.
The services that can be seen to have failed privatisation did not introduce competition. Rail, there is only one line n which to run in order to get from A to B quickest and water, I have to buy my water from my local company.
Nationalised or private, find a way for competition to make improvements.
Regionalisation just offers more opportunities for funds to be siphoned to preferred suppliers and communities. I dread to think what Tower Hamlets would do with more taxpayers’ money.
The problem with democracy is that candidates and political parties have to accommodate the wishes and expectations of a large enough group to be elected. That means spending money on them. Government has no money other than that which is confiscates.
July 31, 2026
@Narrow Shoulders – although contracts for a fixed term, would put the contractor delivering the service in a compensative position. A quick and obvious one around here in Wokingham, is refuge collection. A private contractor has a fixed term contract. I would guess if the fail in the service they provide they loose the contract and after each term the service is put out to tender.
If there was thought applied to privatisation, instead of the desperation to get ‘shot off’, the same could have applied were natural monopolies exist. The UK Parliament as they keep demonstrating are incapable of ‘thought’ just personal ideology, self esteem, and s.. the country
July 31, 2026
NS: “It is not privatisation that improves services and keep prices down but competition.”
Yes, this could be the case. I believe that the NHS should be split into 3 trusts each of which would be the size of Tesco. This could produce the much needed element of competition, not just for the benefit of the patients but also for the benefit of the employees who also suffer from lack of competition for their work. Furthermore, although there may appear to be competition in mobile ‘phones I have heard that the reason why network coverage in the UK is so poor (certainly my experience in Kent) is because no mobile ‘phone company is prepared to spend the extra money needed to expand coverage. This is because mobile ‘phone services have now become a basic commodity where price is for most customers the only criteria. In this case, even though we have privatisation and apparent competition, the government needs to take some action if it wants to improve network coverage.
July 31, 2026
It is part of the ‘cult’, Labour, Socialism starts with creating a divide, that in their minds is the haves and have nots creating the oppressed by design. It is not a cult for the ‘workers’ it is a personal religion for rulers and their minions.
It starts with, someone has got more than you, so we your rulers must take it from them and give it to your as your entitlement. The condition is you act as my loyal minion; you don’t identify as an individual; you act exactly that my personal image of a minion should be. In essence, Labour, Socialism it’s the Norman Conquest all over, your ruler and the rest as surfs. What it doesn’t do is release individuals so as they can achieve potential. It is containment.
No one should be seen as an individual human being, some one that should be allowed to reach potential in their own way. It’s about the collective, the marching to a personally defined beat that is laid down by your masters. You are there as a worker for the collective, in return you will be permitted entitlements that your ruler personally has in mind.
The Dystopian Society that is Labour, that is Socialism
July 31, 2026
The big question is, will his failure be sufficiently apparent by the time of the next general election?
July 31, 2026
The Makerfield situation of Burnham having been the fastest way to oust Starmer and the Reform candidate’s old but badly-worded social media posts allowed Burnham to be poised to be the only one of hundreds of Labour MPs tolerable to them as PM.
It’s very unlikely that any sign of a ‘Burnham bounce’ would be adequate to cause him to risk an early general election to legitamise his role.
Reform have been placed first in over 100 opinion polls. That indicates an enduring and solid loyalty that no blip could hope to overturn.
July 31, 2026
@Bloke – people are going to hate this, but Reform as they stand are not the answer, but they are the solution until an answer is found. The bit they, Reform, are forgetting, is they by not being the Uniparty they were the only choice. Now they are in danger of joining the Uniparty, political ego is becoming the de rigueur of catching the UK’s Parliamentary decease.
July 31, 2026
A very big concern of mine.
There will be lots of sweeteners, hand outs to the favoured public, and not too close scrutiny of the policies and outcomes by mainstream media. The media spin, and Cool Britannia Mark2 will keep much of the docile public on side.
How many more new voters will be brought in and what changes will be made to the voting system to ensure a favourable outcome??
August 1, 2026
75% of Mancunians chose not to vote for the new Mayor.
The failure is apparent to the vast majority.
July 31, 2026
To me the rot is Parliament itself, their ineptitude opened the door to Burnham. A trend for blaming others for your own personal failings. Those personal failings that have come about from ‘messing’ around in things were there is no experience or ability evident, just failure after failure. So, instead the nation gets deflection, after deflection because no one has the ability to take charge and manage.
Of course, Burnham will fail, he has taken the bait, bought into Parliament’s feeling of deluded self-worth that they can achieve everything better than those trained and experienced for the work. They are to frightened to step back, create frameworks that release not contain. The UK Parliament would sooner fight those that ‘do’ than engage with them.
The majority in Parliament have an unwavering support for Burnham. For now, in reality he is just ‘talk’, electioneering and the UK Parliament is loving it. One day Burnham and Parliament will have to step up and do something. The danger is the lashing out destroying things that seemingly have nothing to do with anything, until they are gone – the EU, Chagos, Steel, Water, Railways etc. Then the cost roll in, the money has to be raised, then who does the UK Parliament Blame. I would guess it will be the people of the country those that have to pay Parliaments Bills – they will be punished once more because the UK Parliament refuse its job.
If only we could find a UK Parliament willing to work with and for the county, we could then save all the costs of theses miss-steps that derive from personal ego.
August 1, 2026
Select the candidates freely yourself, and stop whinging at the result of your failure to do that.
July 31, 2026
The nature of Burnham’s entrance into the role of PM and the timing of his accession to avoid close scrutiny of his actions is very telling and troubling.
Burnham is a product of the Blair Brown era of politics and his part in that culminated in the South Staffs health debacle.
We will see very quickly if there is a statesman or a puppet in the occasionally worn suit. For the time being we have to wait but October is not far away……
July 31, 2026
I’m very concerned about the lack of close scrutiny by the mainstream media.
I know they are Labour cheer leaders, we’ve always seen a softer approach to questioning and letting scandals quickly disappear from the front pages, or screens when it’s Labour involved.
Will he receive closer inspection in Parliament I wonder or will the Cons. and Libs be so smitten with his smooth operator style of ‘let’s all work together’, with the hand wringing and the word ‘hope’ sent ringing through the land.
As I read comments from those who live in Manchester who do not think he did a good job, and didn’t really have any electoral competition, I think there are warning signs and questions to be asked.
Not least about finances, personal and professional and crime.
July 31, 2026
When the Burnham government fails we will know who to blame. This will be the 24,927 people who voted for Mr. Burnham in the Makerfield by-election for uniquely they all knew that if he won he would become PM.
July 31, 2026
Never discount the fact a vote for Burnham was a vote to get rid of Starmer.
It is unknown how many of the ~25,000 that voted in Makerfield were actually voting for Burnham per se.
July 31, 2026
Well they did not really vote “for” Burnham they voted to get rid of the equally appalling, dishonest, two tier Kier. Just as when they voted for Labour and Starmer they voted to rid us of Sunak and 14 years of lies, incompetence, open door immigration and Con-Socialism.
July 31, 2026
+1
The sad fact is our system allowed this manipulation to happen.
I had thought it had been published somewhere that,no one could become Prime Minister unless they had taken Part in a GENERAL ELECTION for that Parliament.
Sunak, Truss and Brown thus qualified, Burnham does not
Any truth or legal basis in this John ?
Reply No
July 31, 2026
In the 1950s the curious expression of: ‘like a pregnant fairy stomping around in hobnail boots’ was often heard to describe something odd and beyond belief.
Someone from outside being rapidly appointed to Prime Minister based on fewer than 25,000 members of the public’s votes and those of a few hundred MPs is virtually beyond belief itself.
July 31, 2026
When the Labour government fails they will blame it on Brexit. Anything but their ideology.
July 31, 2026
If Labour had lost the Makerfield by-election this would also have been the end for Starmer..
July 31, 2026
BP pulls out of North Sea after 60+ years…
Says it all.
Unlike Norway who managed this treasure, Labour used it to pay for Benefits Street over 60 years and are now looking for a replacement money tree.
July 31, 2026
Labour are not looking for a replacement money tree for socialism depends upon making and keeping people poor. That is why they will resist using the North Sea assets. Net Zero is a socialist policy to impoverish the nation.
July 31, 2026
Why can’t our new PM, the Government and MPs see what concerns the people of the UK? No 1 concern is the suffocating tax burden and the appalling decision to freeze tax thresholds. No 2 is immigration, both legal and illegal, overwhelming our public services. No 3 is two-tier justice: how come there is no action against Green leader Polanski for sharing an image suggesting Nigel Farage should be guillotined? That right after the death of Ann Widdicome!
No 4 is the general sense that our leaders drift along, make decisions that are bad for the UK, and have no vision!
Net Zero is a classic example of lazy thinking, refusal to face facts, and dishonesty about costs. No wonder we don’t trust our MPs anymore. Equally dishonesty about Brexit and a refusal to accept a democratic decision!
July 31, 2026
I just wish they would listen to you, you talk such sense, but they won’t they’re stuck in some sort of 70s utopia (in their minds at least) which didn’t exist ask us who lived through it, it was hell.
July 31, 2026
I recommend getting out of the south east, visiting secondary towns and cities away from London such as Stoke-on-Trent and asking the people there if they felt that they experienced “very strong recovery and rebuilding after 1981 led by Margaret Thatcher”.
You’ll probably get a two word answer, with the second one being “off”.
Reply Many voted Conservative in 1983 and in 1987. Many more than voted for Starmer in 2024.
July 31, 2026
Not in Stoke-on-Trent Central they didn’t.
Furthermore, look at the massive decline in turnout figures (just 48% turnout in 2024 in Stoke-on-Trent Central, 51.8% in Stoke-on-Trent North). Back in the 1950s, turnout was regularly over 80% in all 3 city constituencies, and it’s been downhill since.
The people of Stoke-on-Trent have simply given up on both Labour and the Conservatives as neither have delivered anything for them for decades.
August 1, 2026
Stoke on Trent seems to have been an outlier during the Thatcher resurgence. I pity them, they lost a huge opportunity to be happy and thrive.
The country however voted Thatcher in greater numbers at each election. That is the equivalent of a race with each spilt time faster than the last – perfection in other words.
Secretariat and our Maggie managed it.
July 31, 2026
I have no time for Burnham and his acolytes though I disliked his predecessor even more.Main reason:their manic desire to drag us back under the yoke of the EU.9/5/19 Brexit:Behind Doors. a Verhofstadt aide” we finally turned them into a colony and that was our plan from the first moment”. Shortly thereafter the Treaty of Lisbon comes into effect(2020).European Defence Union under which there is a compulsory unification of all armed forces
under a centralised command.A leopard cannot change it’s spots.Brussels will never.
July 31, 2026
72 yesterday …..lets be clear, these young men aren’t fleeing war, they’re here for our benefits
July 31, 2026
Imagine if it was 49,000.
July 31, 2026
@glen cullen – stealing and theft are seen by most honest people as being criminal. Honest people have to hand over hard earned money to people that are stealing places from genuine asylum seekers who now can’t even join the queue.
Entering the Country alone without permission is illegal so a criminal offence
July 31, 2026
Entering the country alone without permission isn’t illegal if they immediately claim asylum – which they invariably do.
The answer is to set up offices in Calais where prospective asylum seekers must lodge their claim, then crossing the Channel without approval becomes illegal. They can then remain in Calais waiting for their application to be approved (might be a long wait).
July 31, 2026
I’m guessing he saw the destruction of pre-war factories around him, mines closing etc. as a young man and thought that those were the root of the problem, rather than part of the solution. We did indeed go from an economy being sucked under by dead weights and out of date practices, largely north of Birmingham, to quite a vibrant economy, mainly to the south of Birmingham. Somehow the north didn’t adapt easily to house the software and other service companies of the 80s. It took the Japanese car companies and rewiring of some traditional manufacturing companies up north to make that area more competitive. Then overseas financial predators bought up the good manufacturing companies and the bad ones still trailed behind overseas competitors.
So from Burnham’s standpoint, he’d like to hold jobs in aspic against overseas competition. Unfortunately the world won’t let him, and pouring money down such drains can only make us poorer.
Let tax on innovative companies and individuals fall, and stand back.
Reply More mines and factories shut under the disastrous Labour government 1974-9
July 31, 2026
Starmer ll
No progress is being made and Burnham is heading down the same road as Starmer, because he has the same problems : Taxes too high to pay for the every-increasing cost of the state sector, including the Benefit system, and his backbenchers won’t allow him to cut anything !
He is heading for a large drop in the polls in the Autumn when voters see that he can’t stop the boats, he can’t increase defence spending, (despite appointing Healey as Chancellor), and he can’t reduce the benefits bill.
Even worse, he will have to bring on massive tax rises because he is allowing the benefit system to run out of control.
July 31, 2026
The curious chips on shoulder of any politician can often be traced back to the chips on their parents’ shoulders. According to Burnham’s wiki entry his father was a telephone engineer, who might well have experienced personal and professional disruption in October 1981 when the GPO divested itself of the phone service, which then became British Telecom, and was subsequently privatized (1984).
I make no claims for my surmise, but anyone who remembers the old GPO and the entrenched resistance of its workforce to modernization and privatization (as well as the chauvinist reaction of the Northern working male to Mrs Thatcher) may find my guess quite plausible.
Similarly, medical GP surgeries went through considerable changes in the 1980s, and the modernisation process was thought disruptive by many who worked there before and during the changes. Again, according to the same source Burnham’s mother worked as a receptionist at a GP practice.
But who would want to fight his parents’ old battles? Somebody who has stayed mentally in his same childhood village, stuck in his regional mindset, who eccentrically insists on constantly bringing it up in the workplace. At the head of an organization, he may demand that his work and colleagues should move up there to his ‘home’.
July 31, 2026
Former Conservative, Lord Frost issued a drastic warning yesterday :
Those Conservative voters like me, who now support Reform most, definitely are not coming back, and the Right are going to lose the next election unless the Conservatives and Reform work together.
Both parties need to listen to Lord Frost’s wise words and bury their collective hatchets, and not in each other!
The minimum requirement is an electoral agreement like the one that put Boris into No 10.
Otherwise we will end up being governed by an unholy alliance between the Greens, Labour, Lib-Dims, Plaid and the SNP.
Reply Reform’s often stated aim is to destroy the Conservative party. They are finding this is impossible but are not ready to change their stance. I see they have gone back on their statement that they would not accept any former Conservative MPs as members after last May.