Mailwatch(ed) Forum

Well he certainly knows how to make an entrance, I’ll give him that.

Good to see Reform get an absolute battering though.

Andy revealed his big idea to reindustrialise the country which is boosting guaranteed contracts through public procurement. I see how that would work in defence and security if we are decoupling ourselves from the US asap but what else?

At least he won't be hampered by the weight of expectation.

Apparently Sky News had a helicopter follow the train Burnham was travelling on to London from Manchester.

Words fail me.

Boiler wrote: ↑Mon Jun 22, 2026 2:49 pm Apparently Sky News had a helicopter follow the train Burnham was travelling on to London from Manchester.

Words fail me.

Was The Devil's Gallop played to optimise the excitement of this monumentous occasion?

It's the press at their most absurd.



Burnham then takes a back exit from Euston.
Concourse press pack miss him like England's defence against Maradonna.

What we need this week is every staffer wearing Andy Burnham masks and scattering in random directions.

Boiler wrote: ↑Mon Jun 22, 2026 2:49 pm Apparently Sky News had a helicopter follow the train Burnham was travelling on to London from Manchester.

Words fail me.

I can think of a few.

Still; at least it was a service train and not Jeremy Hosking's private train (yours to hire for a mere £45,000 a day)...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002xpcj

7:43 in...

There's a helpful list of what Burnham would do here.

https://labourlist.org/2026/06/andy-bur ... ng-street/

I'm going against the grain here but maybe Bunrham won't be a complete disaster. He has a decent job as mayor of Manchester and does have some good ideas.

The Weeping Angel wrote: ↑Mon Jun 22, 2026 7:13 pm There's a helpful list of what Burnham would do here.

https://labourlist.org/2026/06/andy-bur ... ng-street/

I'm going against the grain here but maybe Bunrham won't be a complete disaster. He has a decent job as mayor of Manchester and does have some good ideas.

I’ve never thought that PM Burnham would be a complete disaster. I’m fairly certain he will at the least make a fair fist of it. And of course it is to be hoped that he will. It’s Burnham’s wrecklessly self-centred and cynical actions in bringing down a decent man that stick in my craw. I find it quite disgusting.

On that note, how in the name of everything can Burnham ever expect loyalty from any but his sycophants?

Well he shouldn’t expect it.

Wes at home would perhaps end some of the student visa garbage it won’t if it’s business as usual.

Well, if Burnham really is the sure-fire election winning Reform/Farage killer he is supposed to be, then I'll be happy.

But I'm very much yet to be convinced of that.

Same, at the moment it just seemed someone was in a hurry and his mates felt it was easy to win elections.

davidjay wrote: ↑Mon Jun 22, 2026 8:48 pm On that note, how in the name of everything can Burnham ever expect loyalty from any but his sycophants?

Burnham's probably OK on that score. I think Starmer has been massively underrated, but there's not likely to be big group of Starmer irreconcilables. A bit of sense with his Chancellor appointment, and most of them will be reassured.

He did, until the damage was properly done, mostly get on with the Manchester job, albeit with some tedious self-promotion. It's not like eg Iain Duncan Smith messing John Major about and then trying to order MPs about.

A Facebook chum (John Knott) sums things up succinctly :

Labour has just engineered getting someone in who had decided to move on to pastures new 9 years ago (and no, I don't think we should get David Miliband back either) because it's panicked over the local results (something the Tories never did) and hasn't anybody it thinks could do a better job.

Tubby Isaacs wrote: ↑Tue Jun 23, 2026 3:25 pm

davidjay wrote: ↑Mon Jun 22, 2026 8:48 pm On that note, how in the name of everything can Burnham ever expect loyalty from any but his sycophants?

Burnham's probably OK on that score. I think Starmer has been massively underrated, but there's not likely to be big group of Starmer irreconcilables. A bit of sense with his Chancellor appointment, and most of them will be reassured.

He did, until the damage was properly done, mostly get on with the Manchester job, albeit with some tedious self-promotion. It's not like eg Iain Duncan Smith messing John Major about and then trying to order MPs about.

Having said that, he engineered the greatest show of disloyalty to a Labour Prime Minister in history.

Tubby Isaacs wrote: ↑Tue Jun 23, 2026 3:25 pm

davidjay wrote: ↑Mon Jun 22, 2026 8:48 pm On that note, how in the name of everything can Burnham ever expect loyalty from any but his sycophants?

Burnham's probably OK on that score. I think Starmer has been massively underrated, but there's not likely to be big group of Starmer irreconcilables. A bit of sense with his Chancellor appointment, and most of them will be reassured.

He did, until the damage was properly done, mostly get on with the Manchester job, albeit with some tedious self-promotion. It's not like eg Iain Duncan Smith messing John Major about and then trying to order MPs about.

He'll have to deal with the Corbynites and Tankies...