[Abernathy]

Believe me, Tubs, she really is bonkers.

[Killer Whale]

Lives just up the railway from me, apparently. I wonder where she stands on the great turbine and pylon wars.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Long gone from Labour, of course, but he was an actual MP. So putting him here. I lose track on this stuff. If I were basing a satirical character on straight talking Tom Harris, I'd be wanting to criticize Cooper if she did comment on Iranian protests. "Giving a green light for them to come here on boats", that sort of thing.

[The Weeping Angel]

Karl Turner is being a pain in the arse over jury trials.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Seems like quite the fuss to make. And a pretty silly point. Nobody has ever seriously said that everything you do has to be in the manifesto.

I assume Lammy has been asked if this was something being done just to save money. If you say “yes”, that’s wrong. If you say “no”, that’s wrong too.

[mattomac]

I really don't see the issue that much.

[Tubby Isaacs]

You're not allowed to change anything if you're a Labour Government. And if you don't immediately conjur up zillions for what's being discussed, that's "just tinkering".

[The Weeping Angel]

Never mind the fact that these are based on recommendations from an experienced judge and KC. Karl meanwhile, has resorted to tweeting this every day.

Karl never wonders why these courts might not be sitting.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Lammy is perfectly aware of this, one supposes.

One presumes Karl didn’t run on tax increases for his modestly paid constituents.

[mattomac]

I assume its the same as trying to put together a meeting for 3 is easier than one for 15.

[The Weeping Angel]

I'm going to unfollow Karl Turner now.

[Tubby Isaacs]

What's Andrew Fisher talking about? Taxes and borrowing have been raised to pay for the extra spending across the board. And digital ID ought to help make efficiency savings, so it's investment spending in that sense. Anybody can pick out two items, one they like and one they don't, and say that spending on the first one has been cut to pay for the second.

I had a thing from the NHS about bowel cancer screening, which I'm going to have. One thing that caught my eye was that they said they didn't have my bowel cancer records. (I hope that's for the good reason that they don't exist), but it's pretty ridiculous. Someone is going to have their time wasted asking me about stuff that ought to be to hand.

It's a shame the Blair era attempt at NHS IT reform didn't succeed like it might have done. It wasn't quite the £10bn disaster if you read the NAO reports on it. The last one reckoned that it actually just about covered its costs in terms of benefits. Perhaps we could have been honest about that, and something might have got done by now. When I say "we", I obviously mean David Cameron and Nick Clegg, who preferred to have a "Labour grand IT projects waste while they neglected the basics" line.

[The Weeping Angel]

He's referring to this.

As Wickham polling shows, people are more split on the idea.

[Tubby Isaacs]

This is standard stuff though. New spending from efficiencies, if you can find them.

[Tubby Isaacs]

This gobshite again. btw, why is it ok for him still to be on X, but not the Government?

Oh no, these people aren't operating buses?! Even under the London system, buses are run by private companies. Sadiq Khan and Ken Livingstone were not in the least bothered. Is Big Bri is going to hassle Sadiq as a class traitor next time he sees him? Perhaps he'll suggest that TfL make its own pies as well.

One reason Labour takes money off businessmen is that they showboat less than Sharon Graham does.

[Abernathy]

Has Andrew Gwynne featured in this thread already?

Once fairly prominent in the Labour rankings, but now in disgrace, sacked from his front bench position and (still) suspended from the Labour Party for some frankly disgraceful comments made on a Whatsapp group, Gwynne has now apparently agreed a “medical retirement” deal with the parliamentary pension fund that will enable him imminently to stand down as the MP for the Greater Manchester seat of Gorton & Denton, where his Labour majority in 2024 was 18,000.

This has, of course, sparked an immediate frenzy of media speculation that this must be some sort of deal/fix to enable Andy Burnham to stand in the by-election, regain a seat in the Commons, and be in a position to challenge Sir Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership/UK premiership.

We’ve been round this track before. It’s not that simple. As an incumbent metro mayor, Burnham would apparently require special permission from the NEC to put his name forward for any parliamentary by-election. Would he get it ? If not, does he really fancy resigning the mayoralty to enable him to have a crack ? Could Burnham be certain of being selected as the candidate in the by-election? I think that candidate selection in by-elections is the remit of the NEC, and is it likely that the NEC would select a candidate with a declared intention to use his new parliamentary seat expressly to challenge the incumbent Prime Minister? Even if he is successful in being able to stand in the by-election, could he, in the current political climate, count on being able to fight off the challenge from Reform UK and hold the seat ?

So many variables in play, all potentially making a Burnham challenge to Starmer somewhat improbable. Yet still, the feverish speculation goes on, and will go on.

It’s crap. To clarify, I don’t want Andy Burnham as PM instead of Keir Starmer. I think that Starmer remains far and away the best Prime Minister that the UK could have right now- and I do realise that that may not be a fashionable view.

[Youngian]

Labour's strongest card currently is Keir's performance in the face serious international tension. Would Andy show his statemenship in a by-election by fully backing the PM? Or is he a Labour Kemi?

[Boiler]

It’s crap. To clarify, I don’t want Andy Burnham as PM instead of Keir Starmer. I think that Starmer remains far and away the best Prime Minister that the UK could have right now- and I do realise that that may not be a fashionable view.

Hear hear.

[mattomac]

He would probably lose the seat which in a way would put pay to all that.

[davidjay]

Burnham's personal vote would probably win him the election but I can't imagine any way in which the NEC would open the nest of vipers that would see him nominated.