Andy Burnham’s chronicles

[1andrew1]

Thought it would be timely to kick this thread off now that Starmer is being put out to pasture.

Darren Jones has confirmed to Sky News that he won't run against Andy Burnham for the Labour leadership. With his name out of the frame, it looks like Barnham has a clear route to power.

The Financial Times has an article about Barnham.

In terms of his attributes

The episode crystallised all Burnham’s strengths: the storytelling, the fight for the underdog, and knowing where the opportunity lay. “He is very good,” notes someone who knows him well, of his political instincts, “at spotting when a door is ajar.”

One official closely involved at the time says the pandemic showed Burnham could do detail and respond to a crisis thoughtfully, as well as instinctively. “One observation I’d make about Andy throughout that period,” they say, “is that while the statistics were very, very important, he never lost sight of the importance of human beings. That’s a very rare quality in a decision maker.”

And his weaknesses

It also feels disconcerting that, after a decade of covering Burnham, I am unsure what he might do in government. As a mayor, he has had to make few unpopular decisions. “When there’s a clear right and wrong he can communicate extraordinarily,” says one politician who has seen him up close. “But when stuff is difficult and he doesn’t know where to be, he’s all over the place. He’s been busking for a decade.”

https://www.ft.com/content/9949d99f-...syn-25a6b1a6=1

Burnham has now appointed a chief of staff

Who is James Purnell?
We've been reporting this morning that Andy Burnham is set to appoint James Purnell as his Downing Street chief of staff.

So who is he?

Born in London, he also spent a lot of his early life in France, and studied at the University of Oxford.

After an early career at the BBC, he became a special ad iser to Tony Blair in 1997 when Blair entered Downing Street.

Purnell then stood for parliament himself, and was Labour MP for Stalybridge in Greater Manchester between 2001 and 2009.

He entered parliament alongside Burnham, and the two shared an office.

He served as a pensions minister under Blair, before entering the cabinet as culture secretary and then work and pensions secretary under Gordon Brown.

When Purnell was promoted to work and pensions secretary in early 2008, Burnham replaced him in the culture brief.

But he spectacularly resigned from cabinet in 2009, saying he had lost confidence in Brown and called on him to step down as prime minister.

https://news.sky.com/story/politics-...ction-12593360 [/quote]

[Carth]

Nice thread start Andrew, someone had to do it

This is the bit that I consider important:

But when stuff is difficult and he doesn’t know where to be, he’s all over the place. He’s been busking for a decade

I think it's long been a problem with PM's of any party, getting everyone 'onside' to a policy decision and carrying it through, there are just too many with opposing views/agendas and we go round in circles.

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by Carth

This is the bit that I consider important:

That criticism does seem a bit iike that made of Starmer too.

Say what you like about Blair and Thatcher, but they did know their own minds.

---------- Post added at 13:21 ---------- Previous post was at 13:19 ----------

Originally Posted by Carth

I think it's long been a problem with PM's of any party, getting everyone 'onside' to a policy decision and carrying it through, there are just too many with opposing views/agendas and we go round in circles.

But with a big majority in the Commons, Burnham should be ok at implementing policies. The issue may be more in deciding what those policies are in the first place.

[damien c]

Let's add some information, especially around the CAZ in Greater Manchester (GM) and why I fully believe he will push for the removal and banning of all personal transport aside from public transport, by introduction of CAZ's and ULEZ across the whole country!

In 2020 Burnham was told by the Conservatives to implement a CAZ (Clean Air Zone) in Salford Quays and the City Centre, ONLY the city centre and Salford Quays.

Realising he could make money from it to use for what ever he wanted in Manchester, he went to the regional mayors and council leaders of all the areas under the "Greater Manchester" banner, pulled them all into a meeting and told them he had a plan, that plan was to install cameras for number recognition etc basically the same as the ULEZ cameras, these would be installed at every boundary line for GM, on every road to make sure there was no escape.

I know this because I saw the orders go into a few companies about installing Fibre in the ground to the areas where the cameras were to be installed.


After blowing the initial iirc £100m he was given, he went back to the Conservatives demanding more money for everything that was needed to implement his plan.

When they told him to "jog on, you have expanded beyond the requested scope, so no money for you", he then came out saying "I didn't want this, they are forcing my hands" and suspended it.

Here is the problem with his public statements though, he instructed his communications teams to send letters, leaflets and more to all medium and large businesses in the GM area that he saw fit to, and instructed them to inform their staff that he was going to "make sure it got implemented and that everyone would have to pay" and his reason behind it was "public transport is more important and needs funding".


Multiple companies told him they would pull their offices out of Manchester because of the CAZ, because whilst publicly he was saying "Personal" cars would not be affected, in the documentation he had sent out, it said "anything with larger than a 1.0L engine will be charged up to £18 per day each way depending on engine size for personal vehicles, business vehicles will be charged based on weight and physical size up to £60 per day each way".

For some people that would have been £36 just to drive to work each day, £720 a month!! all to try and force people into using the busses and trains.

He get's in as PM and you watch how quickly he starts to remove basic freedoms beyond what this already dictatorship of a government have removed.


Also let's not forget to add, his wife worked for a marketing company which had the company operating the Manchester public charging infrastructure as a client, which Burnham says "wasn't an issue" but since he was trying to force people to use the busses, trains, trams and ebikes, it was clearly a conflict of interest.

Also the money he gave to "people" to swap from Petrol and Diesel vehicles, some of which apparently cannot be "found" anywhere, so already sleaze and corruption is on the table, added to the lying, cheating and stealing he has done as Manchester Mayor.

[1andrew1]

This could set him apart from his predecessor. I think with today's tech it might work especially as PMs do a lot of travel anyway.

Andy Burnham looks to move part of Number 10 operations to Manchester

Plan marks radical attempt to shift power beyond Westminster

Andy Burnham is looking to set up a “Number 10 in the north”, moving part of his prime ministerial operation to Manchester, in a radical attempt to shift power beyond Westminster.

Burnham will set out plans on Monday for a devolution of power if, as expected, he becomes prime minister next month. Moving part of the Downing Street operation to Manchester is expected to be the most eye-catching part of that agenda.

One person briefed on the plans said: “Andy has big plans on devolution and that includes having an office in the north.” A spokesperson for Burnham declined to comment but said that he would set out details “in due course”.

US President Donald Trump often operates out of his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, dubbed the “Winter White House”, but no British prime minister has tried in a systematic way to run their government from outside London.

British prime ministers are famously associated with the black door of 10 Downing Street but Burnham, who is expected to enter Number 10 next month, has long campaigned to decentralise power away from London.

The idea of splitting Number 10 is part of a wider devolution agenda as Burnham looks to transfer power over areas such as skills and some taxes to devolved regional bodies.

https://www.ft.com/content/f3044cb3-...syn-25a6b1a6=1

[Carth]

The guy has already launched his ego into space then . .

Leeds or Birmingham would be better, but his mates aren't there

Seems like just a gimmick to me.

I would think it would make it more difficult to interact with other MPs, other than via online communication.

[Carth]

Actually, it may save all those people on 'peaceful' protests going all the way down to London . . although the policing costs could shoot up

[papa smurf]

Originally Posted by Carth

Actually, it may save all those people on 'peaceful' protests going all the way down to London . . although the policing costs could shoot up

the important thing is was his dad a toolmaker and did he buy his mam a donkey

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by papa smurf

the important thing is was his dad a toolmaker and did he buy his mam a donkey

His dad was a telephone engineer.

Other leaders' dads:
Nigel Farage's dad: Stockbroker and commodities dealer
Kemi Badenoch's dad: GP with his own practice in Nigeria
Ed Davey's dad: Solicitor
Zack Polanski's dad: Tool-seller in DIY shop
Rupert Lowe's dad: MD of national electrical contractor

[TheDaddy]

Originally Posted by Paul

Seems like just a gimmick to me.

I would think it would make it more difficult to interact with other MPs, other than via online communication.

Sounds like an expensive gimmick to me

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

His dad was a telephone engineer.

Other leaders' dads:
Nigel Farage's dad: Stockbroker and commodities dealer
Kemi Badenoch's dad: GP with his own practice in Nigeria
Ed Davey's dad: Solicitor
Zack Polanski's dad: Tool-seller in DIY shop
Rupert Lowe's dad: MD of national electrical contractor

Good friend of mine was Niges dad's secretary

[jfman]

Should have just renamed the Starmer one, for all the difference.

[Sephiroth]

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

His dad was a telephone engineer.

Other leaders' dads:
Nigel Farage's dad: Stockbroker and commodities dealer
Kemi Badenoch's dad: GP with his own practice in Nigeria
Ed Davey's dad: Solicitor
Zack Polanski's dad: Tool-seller in DIY shop
Rupert Lowe's dad: MD of national electrical contractor

Seph's dad: Toolmaker.

The obvious riposte will be taken on the chin with a smile. More than Starmer did.

You and Starmer have the same dad?

So it’s just been sibling rivalry all along, not politics…

[jfman]

Settle it once and for all did he own the factory?