Andy Burnham's Leadership Election Manifesto
1) I want to spend loads of money.
2) I stand by the fiscal rules. Mind you, I haven't got a clue what they are, but it sounds good when I say it.
3) Yeah, I was involved in a pretty big scandal, and after losing the leadership election twice, I disappeared for a bit. Never mind, apparently that's all forgotten now because the media say it's alright.
4) Because I'm from Manchester, I've been Mayor, and I've spent years out of frontline politics, I can obviously do Keir's job better than Keir.
5) I've got no policies whatsoever, but I can talk for hours and hours about absolutely anything. Oh Angela love me.
So please, please, please elect me and take Labour back to the days of spending money we haven't got. I'm also told there's a magic money tree somewhere that I can keep borrowing from, so that'll sort itself out.
The media keep telling me everybody loves me, so it must be true.
Now crown me King Andy and let's get on with it.
The “return of the state” is both the most compelling case for Andy Burnham and the reason journalists still struggle to understand “Burnhamism”. New Labour’s aversion to nationalisation is now as out of date as Old Labour was in the 1990s. The records of both Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair show the case for having a clear ideology, and the first two years of this Labour government have tested to destruction the idea that having no guiding political philosophy benefits a government. An activist state with the “Green transition” at its heart, with a commitment to municipal enterprise and council-house building, one that shapes the economy rather than blowing in the wind and earns “royalties” from its investments and the IP it supports, is a break with past decades. And so it should be – Thatcher and Blair were the bookends of the long late seventies. This is the second quarter of the 21st century – we need to make it new.
It’s time for a real change. A rejection of the glum politics of “like it or lump it – we’re taking away your Winter Fuel Payment, because!” Time to try a leader who enjoys their job, makes a persuasive case for changes and works to create a coalition to support his actions. The 2029 general election will be as definitional for the country as 1979. The end of neoliberal governance opens a new era – for progressives, one that is resolutely upbeat and optimistic.
@Johnmcternan: Labour needs a leader who actually enjoys the job
newstatesman.com/politics/uk…