To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, to lose one prime minister may be regarded as misfortunate but to lose six in ten years looks like carelessness. While the UK gets ready for Andy Burnham as the seventh tenant of Downing Street since 2016, the numbers point to a self-evident historic crisis.
The acclaim that greeted Burnham’s victory in the recent Makerfield by-election had a touch of religious-style hysteria about it, a fervour that was close to Messianic, such is the clamour for ‘something different’. Burnham himself stood as ‘Andy’, rather than Labour, asking people to vote for ‘hope’. In the event, Green and Lib Dem supporters, who understandably wanted to thwart Reform, flocked to his camp.
Burnham indeed has a lot to live up to if he is actually the second coming incarnate. Of course, he isn’t. But all the talk of ‘coronation’ as he moves swiftly to replace the hapless Keir Starmer only reinforces the view of Burnham as some kind of miracle worker, the man ‘chosen’ to restore Labour’s fortunes and thwart the populist right just by being ‘Andy’.
Two years ago, Starmer won a majority of over 200. Today, the latest polls show Labour in third place behind Reform and the Tories. Clearly, nothing less than divine intervention is the priority for the new PM.
For without it, the task is immense and almost certainly beyond even the gift of the slippery former Mayor of Manchester, whose ability to talk out of both sides of his mouth at the same time on Israel-Palestine, for example, makes him eminently suitable for the job, it should be said.
Burnham was a Blairite in his political career, a member of the cabinet as health secretary under Gordon Brown. His appointment of James Purnell as his would-be chief of staff says it all. Associated with the right-wing group Blue Labour, Purnell was in the same cabinet as Burnham.
Purnell, an ex-chair of the Labour Friends of Israel, resigned as work and pensions secretary in 2009, demanding that Brown step down as Labour leader. In the event, Brown remained as PM and was defeated by the coalition in 2010, leading to a decade of severe austerity. Until now, Purnell led Flint Global, an advisory firm with Amazon, BP, Uber, Apple, Google, Jaguar Land Rover, Microsoft and Glencore amongst its clients
The reasons Starmer’s government is so unpopular goes way beyond his wooden, indecisive leadership. Faced by daunting economic numbers, the present government has thrashed around and delivered precious little. Unemployment has grown, especially amongst the youth, living standards fallen further, housebuilding is minimal, the NHS is falling apart, social care is rationed and climate change measures reversed. The refusal to condemn Israeli genocidal bombing in Gaza has appalled millions, as have Labour’s brutal, racist, immigration policies.
UK government borrowing reached £23.3 billion in May 2026, up 30.4% year on year, with public sector net debt rising to 95.1% of Gross Dometic Product. Debt interest costs hit a record £11.7 billion for the month. These are levels last seen in the 1960s. Last year, Burnham called for an end to the UK’s dependence on the bond markets who lend money to governments around the world. On the eve of his by-election victory, Burnham switched tack and pledged to stay within current spending limits, known as fiscal rules, in a bid to appease the very same bond markets.
Such are the constraints on the UK and other governments who want to make their own, independent economic policy. We are enduring a global economy dominated by giant corporations in the midst of trade wars started by Trump and inflation given fresh impetus by Washington-led wars. The corporations and financial markets call the shots, not governments.
That is the driving force for the political crisis that has seen the collapse in support for Labour and the rise of a right-wing populism whose support is based on tuning in to the disenchantment and dismay of millions who voted Labour in 2024.
The Parliamentary Labour Party is prepared to crown Burnham as PM without a contest. They are driven by one thing – and it’s not a love of principles. This is about enabling a ‘saviour’ to turn things around so they can hold on to their seats at the next general election. Such is the state of our political system. Democratic revolution led by Popular Assemblies anyone?
Starmer’s government is unpopular mostly because they made it entirely clear from the beginning that it was the working class and poor that had to pay for their ‘fiscal responsibility’ and in no way would they tax the rich and corporations. Additionally they turned ordinary citizens into ‘terrorists’ for protesting the government’s support of genocide in Israel.
In my view the ‘coronation’ of Burnham makes a Reform victory at the next general election more likely as any ill founded hope for change turns to despair when the electorate finds out it is ‘business as usual’.