Bye Bye Burnham

[Simon]

It's time

[Mito Man]

Surely they will just call a general election. They spent years moaning about the Tory leaders not being selected by the electorate so it's only right they stand by their values.

[Beany]

No-one is running another GE right now, that would be absolutely fucking idiotic.

[Simon]

The Beeb makes a good comment tonight:

"Labour has found itself in a strange situation it promised you it would never reach – en route to removing the leader who delivered its first general election victory in 19 years. And congratulating themselves for winning a seat they already held, so they can get rid of the man whose campaigning won them all the seats they have."

[ZedLeg]

New boss same as the old boss I reckon.

[Gavster]

Exactly. I don’t believe this will achieve anything whatsoever, they’ll continue infighting and still lose the next election.

[Sundayjumper]

In the more immediate future, there's an election for a new Manchester mayor. It's a supplementary vote rather than first-past-the-post and I've no idea if that's going to prove to be a good or bad thing ?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gy2r2wjm1o

[Jobbo]

Burnham has done well getting people behind him. He has no track record of consistent policies though and there is a fair chance he will come across as doing nothing to solve the issues in this country, much like Starmer. Let’s see if straight talking - and being visible - keep him in power a bit longer.

Of course, plenty of Labour members won’t want Burnham to take the leadership role without a fight so he’s not going to become PM immediately. Pretty much certain it’ll be him of course.

[Explosive Newt]

Sigh.

There is a peri-UKIP-Brexit thing prevalent in this country that if you don't like what is happening then the thing to do is vote for change, even if it isn't clear what we are changing to or in the absence of any evidence that the change being offered will make anything better.

The problem is that this change is very disruptive in terms of policy implementation and long-term planning.

I like Burnham, he is charismatic and has done some good things in Manchester but while he is different, I don't see any evidence that he would do a better job than Starmer. Unfortunately Starmer is (I think mostly due to bad PR) now so poorly liked he has reached a certain political critical mass which is going to make it impossible to resign: he will struggle to advance any agenda now as everyone believes he is about to go.

[Swervin_Mervin]

I don't like Burnham. Far too many skeletons, and he keeps adding more to the cupboard.

However, he has undeniably done some good things for Manchester in spite of that. The Bee Network is a big positive, despite it having its naysayers.

And the local economy here is, relatively speaking at least, booming - GDP here has been growing at twice the national average rate. That said, arguably that's down to policies put in place back in the 80s and 90s, latterly by Howard Bernstein - Burnham has reaped the rewards of those decisions.

It will be interesting to see how he gets on. I have a feeling he's quite heavily influenced by what he sees in the Scandinavian countries, and that's no bad thing imo. My worry is he actually just drags us further left and increases the tax burden even further.

[duncs500]

Was with some friends who used to live in Manchester at the weekend, they were very pro Burnham. I'll wait and see, but it's hard to believe it's going to suddenly create a load of unity or progress!

[Swervin_Mervin]

[Gavster]

If this goes tits up and there another leadership challenge in the next 12 months we might as well just admit defeat and give Farage his turn.

[Swervin_Mervin]

[Delphi]

If this goes tits up and there another leadership challenge in the next 12 months we might as well just admit defeat and give Farage his turn.

Farage will never be Prime Minister. It involves hard work, something he famously avoids. He's in it purely to enrich himself by rousing the gullible and hard of thinking.

[ZedLeg]

I’m glad people have spent like 5 years yelling at me that not voting for Labour is helping set up for a reform gov

[Jobbo]

I’m glad people have spent like 5 years yelling at me that not voting for Labour is helping set up for a reform gov

It enabled him to become de facto leader of the opposition, so what's your point? Do you think the threat of Farage is diminished for the next general election?

[ZedLeg]

Not wanting to rehash an argument but I still think voting for a shite mainstream candidate you don’t like just to keep a more shite extremist out is undemocratic.

Labour voluntarily following Reform into right wing headbangery just means it’s also pointless.

[dinny_g]

I really don't think Farage has the credibility to be considered the "defacto leader of the opposition". I don't see they've made enough ground since 2024 to turn 8 seats into the 117 that the conservatives have. And performance in local elections isn't a benchmark for GE performance IMO.

They may be shouting loudest so the perception is they have national influence but I believe there is still a significant group of conservative voters who only air their views once every 5 years at the ballot box and if there was a GE tomorrow, I don't see the overall split of seats changing dramatically,

I think Reform would gain a few and labour would lose a few (mainly due to disgruntled Tory voters who decided to "give Labour a turn" last time out returning to Conservative) but overall, Labour would win, Conservative second etc...

[GG.]

I really don't think Farage has the credibility to be considered the "defacto leader of the opposition". I don't see they've made enough ground since 2024 to turn 8 seats into the 117 that the conservatives have. And performance in local elections isn't a benchmark for GE performance IMO.

They may be shouting loudest so the perception is they have national influence but I believe there is still a significant group of conservative voters who only air their views once every 5 years at the ballot box and if there was a GE tomorrow, I don't see the overall split of seats changing dramatically,

I think Reform would gain a few and labour would lose a few (mainly due to disgruntled Tory voters who decided to "give Labour a turn" last time out returning to Conservative) but overall, Labour would win, Conservative second etc...

I agree re Farage - I don't think he's the de facto leader of the opposition but he has the ability to force the Conservative party (and to a degree the Labour party) to pivot to address issues he pushes, in the same way as Cameron and Brexit.

I think what you are underestimating is that Labour won a landslide on foundations of pure sand. A few votes away from them could mean the size of the PLP is radically reduced BUT that would be if the Conservatives were not really hurt by Reform. It is ultimately hard to tell as there could be a Burnham bounce and Kemi may do less well against him than the Robotic starmer, so it may be the best chance Burnham has of being in power beyond 2029 is actually a snap election later in the year. Its hard to justify that though if he's doing well unless there is a pivotal issue that requires going back to the electorate for a new mandate (rejoining the EU?)