Tag: Andy Burnham
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4p off gherkins. Kemi Badenoch was on a roll on Wednesday. Not only did she push hard on the King of the Mid-North’s newly-revealed thinking about rejoining the European Union, but she also had a ball in her response to the Budget, training quick-fire bazookas on Chancellor John Healey (Rawmarsh & Conisborough, Labour) “resign, again!”,…
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Budget 26 Count them: 98 policy measures! £7bn in additional taxes. A similar amount in additional spending. Remarkably little change to the direction of the British economy. John Healey’s first Budget as Chancellor was an impressive demonstration of the difference between doing things and achieving things. The government calls it a Budget designed to provide…
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Budget26: crunchtime for Burnhamism. Andy Burnham has tried to demonstrate that government can do things. On Tik-Tok at least. However, on Wednesday John Healey’s first Budget will demonstrate whether the government can deliver on anything that matters at scale. So far, “Burnhamism” has been characterised by what might be called the politics of trying. Loud…
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Perhaps not the most critical issue facing the nation… but important to the PM nonetheless. The Commons was quieter this week as the government cleared the procedural decks for the Budget, which will be held next Wednesday, 28th October. Wednesday 21st October Outside the House Wednesday started with news of the government’s decision to accept…
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Badenoch fails to land serious blows The Commons got back to work after its four week “Conference Season” recess. This seems incomprehensible to most voters who think it would be much more productive if all the conferences were held (in different places) in the same week. This (short) week’s conclusion from the Commons is that…
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…or appear to be done for a little while at least. Conference season is over. Various promises have been made, some more credibly than others. For the party of government the awkward necessity of making ambitions square with reality comes in to immediate focus with the Budget now just 16 days away on 28th October.…
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Burnham has sketched a destination. The next stage is harder: he needs to provide a map. There has been an unmistakable change of mood in Downing Street. Unlike his predecessor, Andy Burnham has given the Labour government a clear sense of purpose and a set of apparently genuine priorities. Social care, electoral reform, devolution, social…
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Hoping for some Realism. This task is appointed for you Frodo Andy. Andy Burnham tried to kill off talk of an early election over the weekend, insisting that he would serve out his predecessor’s mandate until 2029. Nevertheless, his first Labour conference speech as PM fired the starting gun on that election by setting out…
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Governments are always short of something. Money, parliamentary time, civil servants, public patience and, occasionally, ideas. This week Andy Burnham appeared to be particularly interested in acquiring another scarce commodity: time. In the traditional pre-conference Sunday morning interview (with Laura Kuenssberg) the PM announced the most ambitious domestic policy of his new premiership: a National…
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Much activity, little consequence. A lot appears to have been happening in Westminster since Andy Burnham became Prime Minister. The new leader arrived promising a different sort of government. Policies have been abandoned, spending priorities questioned and relations with Europe cautiously rearranged. A steady trickle of announcements designed to make people feel a little bit…
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Welfare Reform Proposals. Kemi Badenoch delivered a fairly surgical question at PMQs on Wednesday, questioning the new Chancellor’s own declared reasons for resigning as Defence Secretary just 13 weeks ago: “Is the Prime Minister unable, or is he just unwilling,to get that money by 2030?” The PM offered the classic deflective response, revealing far more…
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PMQs was not a close contest this week – but a serious defeat for the PM. Although LotO began predictably enough on defence spending, the PM was unexpectedly knocked out on Question 2 and remained down and out. Mrs Badenoch’s second question on defence spending had the PM on the run: LotO: “The Chancellor used…