Andy burnham

Thursday

Michael Simmons

‘Devolution is not a growth plan’: Andy Haldane on Burnham, Badenoch & the Budget

From our UK edition

43 min listen

Andy Burnham’s first Budget as Prime Minister is approaching – but higher borrowing costs have already made the sums more difficult. Former Bank of England chief economist Andy Haldane joins Michael Simmons to warn that Britain has little room left to borrow more. For this episode of Reality Check, Andy tells Michael what could be in next week’s Budget, why devolution alone is not a growth strategy and why he appears to have praised Kemi Badenoch’s economic policies this week. Plus: they discuss the Bank of England’s record on inflation – with Haldane arguing the Bank has not 'learnt its lesson’. What would he have done differently? Produced by Patrick Gibbons and Henry Lloyd.

‘Devolution is not a growth plan’: Andy Haldane on Burnham, Badenoch & the Budget

Wednesday

Tim Shipman

Does Andy Burnham actually have a foreign policy?

From our UK edition

It often takes an outsider to see us most clearly. When I had breakfast with the ambassador of an EU country last week he asked me: ‘What is the Burnham government’s foreign policy? Because it seems to me there is only domestic policy conducted on the international stage.’ Keir Starmer and David Lammy’s approach was ‘progressive realism’. Under New Labour, Robin Cook advanced an ‘ethical foreign policy’. Andy Burnham, however, appears to have little interest, leaving the details to Ed Miliband, the Foreign Secretary. As a Labour peer notes: ‘We have Andy’s vibes and Ed’s conscience.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: Burnham’s Brexit claims, Boots’s £6.7bn sale and the Pope’s cancer diagnosis

From our UK edition

Home Andy Burnham, the Prime Minister, said on a podcast: ‘I asked the question coming to Downing Street, “Well, was there interference in the 2016 referendum from Russia?” I’ve had the clear answer that, yes, there was.’ Sir Ken McCallum, the director-general of MI5, said during questions after an annual speech: ‘I’m a little bit worried that [if] we all stay in this debate for another few days, the Russian trolls who didn’t appear to do all that much at various points over the years, they’ll be delighted they are front-page news once again.’ The Prime Minister told the House of Commons that whatever happened at RAF Fairford, Gloucestershire, on 27 September was ‘almost certainly directed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard’.

Dot Wordsworth

The secrets of Britain’s postcodes

From our UK edition

In his dark T-shirt speech on the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June), Andy Burnham, not yet prime minister, promised ‘good growth in every postcode’. Indeed he used the word postcode six times. There are about 1.8 million active postcodes in the United Kingdom covering 29 million addresses. One is allocated to Father Christmas, who gets thousands of letters each year. Will he enjoy ‘good growth’? In England and Wales, the average was about 15 addresses per postcode in 2021. About 55,540 full postcodes in England and Wales contain only one household. So, in 2011, Devon had 2,370 single-household postcodes, but Gloucestershire only 919. The Office for National Statistics won’t pinpoint where they all are, lest individual people have their privacy trampled upon.

Wednesday

John Connolly

Andy Burnham’s concerning links to Abu Dhabi

From our UK edition

Last month at the UN general assembly, Andy Burnham spoke movingly about Manchester’s statue of Abraham Lincoln, which stands outside the offices of No. 10 North. The oversized bronze commemorates the decision by Manchester’s mill workers, at great personal cost, to boycott slave-picked cotton from the South during the US Civil War. ‘In 1862, people with little power used it to help those with none on the other side of the world,’ the Prime Minister told delegates. It is an unfortunate irony that, two weeks after his UN speech, Burnham is facing a reckoning over his adopted city’s deep links to the UAE, a country with one of the worst records on modern slavery in the developed world. The story, as is often the case in Manchester, begins with football.

The Spectator

Kemi Badenoch knows the right way forward

From our UK edition

Last year’s Conservative party conference was a difficult one. Reform UK was leading the polls; the local election results had been as painful as the general election the year before; and the story at conference was not Kemi Badenoch’s successes, but speculation over Robert Jenrick’s attempts to replace her. Adversity, however, proved her friend. The past year has seen Badenoch’s leadership blossom, with confident public appearances, a by-election victory in Aberdeen and Jenrick’s fortuitous exit to Reform. This week, she stood up in Birmingham as a leader truly in command of her party – and with a plausible route back into government. There are still a great many obstacles to overcome.

Katie Glass

A radical solution to the prisons crisis

From our UK edition

This Halloween, punters at a silent disco in Shepton Mallet’s former prison will be dancing on the graves of executed men, those who were hanged on the gallows (which remained until 1967) and buried in the grounds. The evening is promoted as ‘a scary night out behind bars’, hosted by ‘Governor Grim’, offering clubbers ‘Cell block anthems’ and ‘blood-bag cocktails’. At Shrewsbury’s old slammer, known for its cruel segregation cells, tourists sign up for ‘immersive’ prison escapes in ‘The Hole’: ‘A fun, challenging experience designed for families, couples and friends!’ Meanwhile, HMP Oxford, now a posh hotel, offers ‘prison break’ packages promising a “‘get out of jail free” card to luxury guests’.

Tuesday

Michael Simmons

Hope again: do you buy Burnham’s big pitch?

From our UK edition

22 min listen

Andy Burnham has used his Labour conference speech to set out his clearest vision yet for the country and it was a strikingly ambitious one. Noa Hoffman is joined in Liverpool by Tim Shipman and Michael Simmons to unpack a speech that ranged from a new National Care Service and reform of the pension triple lock to electoral reform, water and Britain’s future relationship with the European Union. How radical is Burnham’s programme in practice and is the ambition matched in the detail? And what was missing from the speech? Produced by Patrick Gibbons.

Monday

Michael Simmons

Can Labour really reindustrialise Britain?

From our UK edition

15 min listen

Noa Hoffman is joined from Labour conference in Liverpool by James Heale and economics editor Michael Simmons to discuss Chancellor John Healey’s keynote speech. They discuss his attempt to sell fiscal discipline in distinctly Labour language, whether the government’s reindustrialisation plans add up and what the speech tells us about the economic argument Andy Burnham wants to make. Plus, as the bars begin to swell on day two of the conference, can Labour's united front continue for Shabana Mahmood's speech? Produced by Patrick Gibbons.

Sunday

Joe Bedell-Brill

Sunday shows round-up: Burnham pushes for a national care service

From our UK edition

Andy Burnham: ‘I am talking about a system that works on NHS principles’ Speaking to the BBC from Labour's conference this morning, the Prime Minister proposed a free national care service, and hinted that he would outline some sort of tax rise to pay for it at the next general election. Andy Burnham said he would be the one to ‘grasp the nettle’ on social care reform, even if it meant spending ‘political capital’. The PM argued that the care and health systems ‘just don’t connect’, leaving thousands of people arriving in A&E every day, the most expensive part of the system. He said he would propose a national care service that works on NHS principles and is ‘universal’.

James Heale

Burnham delays social care reform this parliament

From our UK edition

The Labour Party conference gets underway in Liverpool today, with Andy Burnham giving his big sit-down interview to Laura Kuenssberg of the BBC. The key exchange focused on social care: a topic about which the Prime Minister has spoken constantly in recent weeks. His father, Roy, died a fortnight ago, suffering from Alzheimer’s, and Burnham spoke with feeling about his own family’s personal struggles with care. His criticisms of the existing system will strike a chord with many. ‘Social cost in England is as unfair as healthcare cost in America,’ he said. ‘There is a cost, people are paying care charges now.’ The Prime Minister seems to have a clear sense of what he believes is the promised land Few would defend the existing system as either functional or fair.

Ross Clark

Tactical voting is Burnham’s secret weapon

From our UK edition

For Andy Burnham the biggest challenge is to avoid going down like Gordon Brown, who passed up the chance of calling an election in autumn 2007, when he was newly in office and public opinion of him was still quite high, only to crash to defeat two and a half years later. The memory of that time, when Burnham himself was health secretary, has no doubt fed into the reports that Downing Street advisers are considering the case for an election next spring. Has the moment of the progressive alliance finally arrived? The bad news for Burnham is that the decision is even more difficult for him than it was for Brown. He would be giving up a massive majority, and for what? Almost no one thinks that he can win any kind of majority.

Wednesday

Noa Hoffman

Burnham wins over Trump – but can it last?

Britain’s new Prime Minister Andy Burnham yesterday cleared his first major diplomatic hurdle as his meeting with Donald Trump in Manhattan passed without serious incident. During a 30-minute encounter on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, the President bestowed on Burnham two of his highest compliments, calling him a “natural businessman” and a “great prime minister.” Trump dialed up the niceties further by describing UK-US relations as “more up now than they were with your last prime minister.” Indicating that Burnham had impressed him personally behind closed doors, the President explained that “based on my relationship with your prime minister Andy, I think that we’re doing very well.

Saturday

Patrick Gibbons

Is Burnham ready to talk about war?

From our UK edition

16 min listen

Military and intelligence chiefs across Europe are sounding increasingly stark warnings about the threat posed by Russia, from cyber attacks and sabotage to drones and hybrid warfare. But is Britain taking the danger seriously enough – and are the armed forces actually ready for what might come next? Patrick Gibbons is joined by Tim Shipman and Noa Hoffman to discuss Britain’s military preparedness, Andy Burnham’s approach to foreign policy and what to expect when the Prime Minister comes face-to-face with Donald Trump in New York next week. Produced by Patrick Gibbons.

Is Burnham ready to talk about war?

Wednesday

Charles Moore

Where are my reparations?

The natural coalition of rural people which was forged 25 years ago, before the hunting ban, is forming once more. On Monday in Westminster, we gathered under the Countryside Alliance banner to hear David Blunkett, David Cameron and others set out the issues. Poor Andy Burnham had inadvertently stoked our feelings by joking feebly about how he hardly ever visits farms and considers Defra the least important government department (would it were so!). There are strong current individual issues – the proposed trail-hunting ban being the most egregious and the inheritance taxes for farms the most economically damaging – but the sheer number of government-inspired rural harms is astonishing. The Alliance counts 27 of them.

Dot Wordsworth

Why can’t the Financial Times correctly name peers?

From our UK edition

The present Lord Howard de Walden’s first name is not Howard. It’s Peter, for the 11th Baron is the film-maker Peter Czernin. In 2004, the barony of Howard de Walden was called out of abeyance in favour of the 9th Baron’s eldest daughter, who married Joseph Czernin. All this spoils it for the Financial Times, which refers to peers according to this pattern: Lord Peter Mandelson. That is not English. Lord Peter Mandelson would be the son of a duke or marquess, like Lord Peter Wimsey, the younger son of the Duke of Denver. My husband has been driven to incoherent rage by wireless announcers talking of Lady Victoria Starmer, the wife of the former PM, and making things worse by referring to her as the First Lady. In America the First Lady is the wife of the head of state.

The Spectator

Which prime ministers have sporting achievements?

From our UK edition

Premier sports Andy Burnham took part in the Great North Run, a half marathon, finishing in 1 hour 57 minutes. Some other prime ministers who competed in office: – Edward Heath captained his sailing boat, Morning Cloud, on the 600-mile Fastnet Yacht Race, finishing in 14th place but helping Great Britain to regain the Admiral’s Cup. – Alec Douglas-Home took part in charity cricket matches while PM, having played first-class cricket for Oxford University and Middlesex in his younger days. – Keir Starmer continued to put in the occasional match for a five-a-side football team in Kentish Town. Party favours Reform received two record-breaking donations totalling £72 million in 48 hours.

Sunday

Damian Thompson

Holy Smoke: Catholic Burnham barred – should the law change?

From our UK edition

15 min listen

Andy Burnham has announced his intention to change a law which bars him from advising the King on appointments to the Church of England. The Victorian-era law explicitly bars Catholics like Burnham, as well as Jews – but doesn't prevent those of other Christian denominations, other faiths – like Hindu Rishi Sunak, or atheists like Keir Starmer. So, if the law is going to be changed to address this anomaly, should it allow all Prime Ministers of any faith to provide advice – or should all non-Anglicans be barred? And what does Burnham's interest in the power tell us about his relationship with his faith – and his approach to the job? The Spectator's James Heale and William Moore join Damian Thompson to discuss. This was originally broadcast on the Spectator's Holy Smoke channel.

Holy Smoke: Catholic Burnham barred – should the law change?

Saturday

Damian Thompson

Catholic Burnham barred: should the law change?

From our UK edition

15 min listen

Andy Burnham has announced his intention to change a law which bars him from advising the King on appointments to the Church of England. The Victorian-era law explicitly bars Catholics like Burnham, as well as Jews – but doesn't prevent those of other Christian denominations, other faiths – like Hindu Rishi Sunak, or atheists like Keir Starmer. So, if the law is going to be changed to address this anomaly, should it allow all Prime Ministers of any faith to provide advice – or should all non-Anglicans be barred? And what does Burnham's interest in the power tell us about his relationship with his faith – and his approach to the job? The Spectator's James Heale and William Moore join Damian Thompson to discuss. Produced by Patrick Gibbons.

Catholic Burnham barred: should the law change?

Wednesday

Tim Shipman

Meet the most powerful woman in Britain

From our UK edition

Some years ago Antonia Romeo, now the Cabinet Secretary, was stuck in a boring meeting about civil service reform. She regarded the plan as inadequate to create the leaner, meaner machine she hoped to see. ‘Basically you’ve given me a Ford, when I’m more of a Ferrari girl.’ It was a moment which summed up the official who is now accruing arguably more power than any of her predecessors. Romeo is glamorous, suspiciously racy and likes to move fast towards her goals. When Andy Burnham became Prime Minister she secured a seat in the Prime Minister’s outer office, the first time a cabinet secretary has ever sat there. She has written her own job description (signed off by Keir Starmer and now Burnham).