I think it is fairly clear that Burnham will win the Makerfield by-election. In all likelihood, he will be Prime Minister by the end of the summer.
I have less and less interest in the Westminster Punch and Judy Show. It is theatre, designed to divide us and have us fight amongst ourselves, while the wealthy and powerful who run the world continue to enrich themselves and do whatever they want and laugh at us for falling for it again and again.
However, there is something objectionable about such a low rent spiv as Burnham thinking he can just waltz back into Parliament and then into Downing Street, something he seems to regard as his birthright. His sense of entitlement is immensely irritating. It almost makes me prefer Starmer!
Although I have to hand it to Burnham. He has put together a very sophisticated spin operation to portray himself as some sort of political heavyweight. When in truth he was an undistinguished Cabinet minister and ran a disastrous campaign for the Labour leadership in 2015, in which he was humiliated.
Opposition was clearly not grand enough for him, so he went off to Manchester instead. Where he stoked his ego, strutted around looking important and conned people who seldom if ever visit Manchester into believing he had done a good job. A glance away from the high rises and shiny buildings demonstrates otherwise.
If Burnham does become Prime Minister, there should be a General Election. I know it can be argued it is not required from a constitutional point of view. Several other Prime Ministers have taken over in mid-term in the last two decades.
However, Burnham was not even an MP after the 2024 General Election. He did nothing whatsoever to secure Labour’s majority. The mandate (such as it is on a low vote share of a low turnout) is not his to use. And he will have even less moral authority if he takes the government in a more left wing direction that was not outlined in the Labour Party 2024 manifesto.
Governments only govern with the consent of the governed. No one gave their consent to someone who wasn’t an MP. If Burnham does take over and starts changing course, the public are entitled to not co-operate. He never asked for our consent and never received it. If he wants to govern, he should seek his own mandate from the public via a General Election.