Andy burnham

Wednesday

Charles Moore

‘No. 10 North’ won’t work

From our UK edition

It would be dangerously premature to say that Ukraine is winning the war with Russia, but Russia is undoubtedly doing worse. Ukrainian ingenuity and courage are outsmarting Russian mass. Ukraine has the advantage in technology, especially drone technology, and morale. The Black Sea fleet is held in port and Russian-occupied Crimea is now insecure. This is becoming apparent even on the streets of Moscow and St Petersburg. So what, I wonder, will western apologists for Vladimir Putin, led by Donald Trump and J.D. Vance, say if his situation worsens further? Will they still back him as the upholder of Christian values against the decadent West and champion of Russia’s historic territorial rights and its need for security?

Tim Shipman

Reform is right to fear the return of Boris

From our UK edition

The man from Reform had barely sat down at our table at the French bistro when he leant forward conspiratorially and asked: ‘What’s Boris up to?’ The suspicion that Boris Johnson, Britain’s 55th premier, must be up to something is a familiar one. For the first time in several years, however, the question is interesting. And the fact that Reform is raising it gives a small insight into the current state of politics. The query came just hours after Johnson had taken to Instagram to mark the tenth anniversary of the Brexit referendum, the defining moment of his career and of our politics since. The 17.4 million voters who backed the Leave campaign were right to do so, he said, before going on to hail the freedoms of Brexit.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: No. 10 heads north, Stokes retires and earthquakes hit Caracas

From our UK edition

Home Andy Burnham, who was expected to become prime minister on 20 July, took off his tie and put on a dark T-shirt for a speech in which he said he would establish a ‘No. 10 North’ in Manchester as the ‘nerve centre of a rewired Britain’. He promised council houses, welfare reform and ‘good growth in every postcode’ by means of ‘Manchesterism’. He took no questions. Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, presented the delayed defence investment plan, and said that spending would rise by £15 billion by 2030. He landed his successor with £4.7 billion of the sum being left unfunded. The Ministry of Defence would also have to find £10.7 billion in efficiency savings in the next four years.

The Spectator

What kills more: heat or cold?

From our UK edition

Absolute mayor Andy Burnham wants more devolution and elected mayors. Do voters want that? – Since 2001 there have been 55 referendums on whether to establish the post of elected mayor. Only in 17 cases was there a majority in favour. – The towns and districts keenest on having an elected mayor were Middlesbrough (84% in favour), Croydon (80%) and Mansfield (70%). – The areas least keen on an elected mayor were Guildford (81% against), Bath (79%) and West Devon (77%). Ratings game Which attracts the biggest TV audience in Britain: Wimbledon or the World Cup? – England’s opening match in this World Cup, vs Croatia, attracted a peak audience of 15.4m. England’s quarter-final defeat to France in 2022 had an audience of 19.4m. – This compares with the 8.

Martin Vander Weyer

Storm warnings for Burnham from the weathermen of Basel

From our UK edition

Reading the annual economic report of the Bank for International Settlements while lying beside a pool with an Aperol spritz in hand is a challenge I accepted on your behalf. Based in Basel as a hub for the world’s central banks, BIS is always careful in its prose for fear of setting cats among global pigeons. But this year’s bulletin is a serious storm warning, based on four factors that in a worst-case combination could trigger market mayhem. First, inflation driven by Middle East conflict has left oil market imbalances that will take ‘several quarters to purge’, with the risk of further volatility; BIS doesn’t actually say ‘If Trump goes batshit crazier’, but that’s the subtext.

The Spectator

Letters: Burnham is a master brand-builder

From our UK edition

Telling stories Sir: As a filmmaker by training and a marketer by profession, I couldn’t agree more with your leading article (‘Northern soul’, 27 June) on the absence of narrative in our politics. The appeal of figures such as Burnham and Nigel Farage lies in the storyworld they build around themselves – be it via pints shared down the pub, off-the-cuff honesty, or a Monty Python line landing in the Commons. But the PM who stays the course, as any brand-builder learns the hard way, must know two things: their own story, well enough to tell it plainly; and the people they speak to, well enough for them to make it their own. Aim a dull narrative at everyone and you reach no one; tell a story worth sharing and both left and right will see themselves in it.

Saturday

Henry Jeffreys

The secret to dressing exceptionally well

As I scribble these words on a train to London, I’m wearing a lightweight Italian wool suit, a shirt from Gieves & Hawkes, a silk spotty tie and a pair of Church’s suede brogues. You might mistake me for a prosperous Neapolitan gentleman of a certain age. But in fact, I’m a charity-shop dandy – my outfit came to less than £60. That’s less than a pair of new trainers for my teenage daughter. I’m particularly pleased with the shoes, which I picked up locally for £30. A new pair would set you back £700. If you’re not too grand to buy secondhand, it’s actually far easier and cheaper for men to dress smartly than to be slovenly. I learned this important fact in my early twenties.

dressing
andy burnham
Charles Moore

Even Andy Burnham doesn’t know what Andy Burnham stands for

The British constitution is an admirably flexible thing, so I would not claim that Andy Burnham’s leadership campaign, and the coverage thereof, is unconstitutional, but it is certainly unseemly. Why did a BBC helicopter follow his train from Manchester to London (which arrived, of course, late) as if he were Lenin heading for the Finland Station? And why was he allowed to preempt his result with a mass selfie with about 200 of his supporting MPs in Westminster Hall? He is merely a new Member of Parliament, until he isn’t. Turning the place into his stage set is a way of intimidating possible challengers. If he is challenged, he will surely still become leader, but the point of a challenge is to force him to say what he means to do.

Friday

Tim Shipman

Can Burnham resist the siren call of the left?

Power, when it is gained and lost, is transferred in stages: the actual, the visual and the constitutional. The latter took place on June 23 when the prime minister presumptive sent a letter to Antonia Romeo, the Cabinet Secretary, requesting that she commence access talks with his team. Keir Starmer had already given permission for them to proceed, but the propriety and ethics team in the Cabinet Office had told Romeo she could not initiate proceedings. Andy Burnham had to ask first. To all intents and purposes, he is already the vessel from which power flows. At the same time, it became clear that James Purnell, the former Blairite cabinet minister, will lead the transition team and stay on to become chief of staff in 10 Downing Street.

burnham
Douglas Murray

Andy Burnham’s worryingly vague vision for Britain

Once again the question occurs: “Why do they want it?” Keir Starmer held a very important role in the legal profession before entering parliament, but for some reason he desperately wanted to be even more political. As soon as he became an MP it was plain that he was so keen to get the top job that he was even willing to go through the Jeremy Corbyn period – immiserating his reputation and presumably himself by spending years having to pretend that Corbyn was a suitable candidate for prime minister. Serving in Corbyn’s shadow cabinet was not something that any decent person would do – leading some of us to conclude either that Starmer was not a decent person or that he had such a surfeit of ambition it didn’t matter because it was a means to an end.

Wednesday

Tim Shipman

Can Burnham resist the siren call of the left?

Power, when it is gained and lost, is transferred in stages: the actual, the visual and the constitutional. The latter took place on Tuesday evening when the prime minister presumptive sent a letter to Antonia Romeo, the Cabinet Secretary, requesting that she commence access talks with his team. Keir Starmer had already given permission for them to proceed, but the propriety and ethics team in the Cabinet Office had told Romeo she could not initiate proceedings. Andy Burnham had to ask first. To all intents and purposes, he is already the vessel from which power flows. At the same time, it became clear that James Purnell, the former Blairite cabinet minister, will lead the transition team and stay on to become chief of staff in 10 Downing Street.

Noa Hoffman

How the right can fight Burnham

From our UK edition

Andy Burnham has not yet entered No. 10, but the Conservatives and Reform are already preparing for the possibility of an early general election. Resources are being redeployed, attack lines sharpened and campaign plans drawn up for the aftermath of Labour’s coronation. Nigel Farage wants a snap showdown. Kemi Badenoch insists defence must be properly funded before the country is returned to the polls. The rapid elevation of the MP for Makerfield poses tricky questions for his opponents. Burnham has built a following without a clearly defined ideology or coherent policy programme, leaving strategists in Reform and the Conservative party – like much of Britain – unsure which version of him will walk into No. 10. Yet despite that uncertainty, preparations are being made fast.

The Spectator

How does this week’s heatwave compare with 1976?

From our UK edition

Prime numbers It looks as if Britain will just miss out on having seven prime ministers in the space of a decade as nominations for the Labour leadership election will not open until 9 July (David Cameron left office on 13 July 2016). Have we ever had seven PMs in the space of ten years? – After Lord Liverpool left office on 9 April 1827 Britain saw a further eight premierships within the following decade. Two, however, saw the same person returning to office, so we had seven different prime ministers within the space of ten years.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: Burnham wins, Starmer resigns and a heatwave hits

From our UK edition

Home Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, stood outside 10 Downing Street and said that he would resign as leader of the Labour party. Nominations for a successor would open on 9 July (though he still meant to unveil his defence investment plan in time for the Nato summit on 7 July). His decision to depart followed the convincing victory in the Makerfield by-election of Andy Burnham, bringing him back into parliament. An election for mayor of Greater Manchester in his place would take place on 30 July, with Bev Craig, the leader of Manchester City Council, as Labour’s candidate. Mr Burnham packed a suit and tie into which he changed on the train from Manchester Piccadilly to London. He was sworn in as an MP that afternoon. Mr Burnham had received 24,927 votes (54.

Douglas Murray

Burnham’s worryingly vague vision for Britain

Once again the question occurs: ‘Why do they want it?’ Keir Starmer held a very important role in the legal profession before entering parliament, but for some reason he desperately wanted to be even more political. As soon as he became an MP it was plain that he was so keen to get the top job that he was even willing to go through the Jeremy Corbyn period – immiserating his reputation and presumably himself by spending years having to pretend that Corbyn was a suitable candidate for prime minister. Serving in Corbyn’s shadow cabinet was not something that any decent person would do – leading some of us to conclude either that Starmer was not a decent person or that he had such a surfeit of ambition it didn’t matter because it was a means to an end.

The Spectator

How Burnham can avoid Starmer’s fate

From our UK edition

Welcome to the cabaret, Andy Burnham. Last year, the editor of this magazine wrote about ‘Weimar Britain’: the fear that political instability, economic turmoil and rising anti-Semitism was making our country as decadent and dangerous as inter-war Germany. As our sixth prime minister of the post-Brexit decade departs, and our seventh looms into view, we have developed a national addiction to perma-crisis, seemingly trapped in a game of ‘Topple the PM’. We are far from a January 1933 moment. But the joke isn’t funny any more. This turbulence is not inescapable, though. What is needed is a premier able to stay the course, to set out how they want to change Britain and to discover the drive and charisma to bring their party and the country with them.

Michael Gove

Can I save Britain from war with Russia?

From our UK edition

I t won’t be much of a consolation to Keir Starmer but I too was overwhelmed by the responsibilities of being prime minister. Fortunately for the country, I was only playing the role in a fictional coalition cabinet assembled by Sky TV to wargame the consequences of a Russian attack on the UK. My turn as make-believe premier began with unwarranted overconfidence, moved to fumbling crisis after crisis and ended with me almost alone in a bunker wondering how disaster had come so quickly. So very different from the real world. My cabinet colleagues – Nicola Sturgeon, Penny Mordaunt, Harriet Harman, Jim Murphy and Sayeeda Warsi – all gave a good account of themselves.

Matthew Parris

The death of two-party politics has been greatly exaggerated

Every twist in the winding road of our politics brings a latest thing to say. These wisdoms usually survive a season or two before succumbing to the new thing to say, which often asserts the opposite. This summer we have ‘Britain is moving into an era of multi-party politics’. Allow me, therefore, to leap ahead with my candidate for its successor: ‘Reports of the death of two-party politics are greatly exaggerated.’ I don’t say our current governing party and principal opposition must always be the two parties in question. Labour may be dying. The Tories may be showing signs of life. In both cases I fervently hope so. But whether or not these remain our two options in elections to come, the tendency will always be for the choice to boil down to two.

Monday

Madeline Grant

The truth about Keir Starmer’s legacy

It was when Keir Starmer claimed never to have had a dream that I knew we were dealing with potentially one of the funniest prime ministers Britain had ever seen. Sure, some people would have been amused by the magnetism for calamity exhibited by Theresa May, the almost comedically unbelievable mendacity of Boris Johnson or the downright absurdism of Liz Truss, but a really funny prime minister is the one who demands to be taken seriously, and particularly one who is convinced that he has forced the British people to do so.

keir starmer

Friday

Michael Simmons

Was Brexit worth it – and can Burnham save Britain?

From our UK edition

55 min listen

For this week’s Edition, William Moore is joined by the Spectator’s assistant editor Isabel Hardman and the editor of The New Statesman Tom McTague. Plus, in a special episode this week, the Spectator’s economics editor Michael Simmons joins for the first half of the episode, before political editor Tim Shipman jumps in later on. This week: was Brexit worth it? As we approach the tenth anniversary of the vote to leave the European Union, the Spectator’s editor – and former prominent Vote Leave campaigner – Michael Gove makes the case that not only was Britain right to leave, but it has benefitted from leaving. The past decade however has been marked by domestic political chaos, so to what extent was Brexit a symptom or a cause of Britain’s structural problems?

Was Brexit worth it – and can Burnham save Britain?