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Britain's prime minister to step down, Burnham puts himself forward as successor

reuters.com

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Re: Britain's prime minister to step down, Burnham puts himself forward as successor

#111

Post by gadders »

gaiagraphia wrote: post #107
gadders wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh agreed. If anyone cares that much travel back to whichever country they support and enlist. Also renounce your British citizenship at the same time.

I practically beelined to Ukraine when the war broke out and dedicated a good 2 months to humanitarian work. I've probably achieved more independently than huge organised movements with probable nation state backing. Huge amounts of funding, huge election talking points, hundreds of thousands of people, entire student bodies, propaganda networks, and what quantifiable achievements have been made? It all comes off as…

I always think of the example of my step-grandad (amongst others) who left the UK to join the International Brigade during the Spanish Civil War.

Re: Britain's prime minister to step down, Burnham puts himself forward as successor

#113

Post by cryo32 »

sph wrote: post #110
cryo32 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

God no. None at all. That's what we need though. No more bloody populist snakes!

> No more bloody populist snakes! And who are the idiots, the pensioners, the facebook dwelling, the Daily Mail reading knuckle draggers gonna vote? You get Farage because people want a Farage. I mean, have you seen what happened across the pond? The dumb people, those with endless thirst for easy solution to complex problems, are the ones deciding the fate of the country. They’re the first ones lining up at the voti…

They don’t want a Farage. They don’t know what they want. They’re floating voters. They vote what they are told to.

Re: Britain's prime minister to step down, Burnham puts himself forward as successor

#114

Post by DarkNova6 »

soco wrote: post #87
DarkNova6 wrote: post #38

Starmer was the UK version of Joe Biden. He was the right guy to get Labor back on track and sort out the financial disaster left by the Tories. But he couldn't build a convincing vision of the future. But replacing it with another guy that has no mandate is a fatal mistake. What Labor needed was an internal contest to fight for the best ideas, even if the winner was already pre-determined. A single local poll can't…

Provided you do have more than one candidate for the job - Streeting already said nah...

Yeah, it seems like much has already been discussed and agreed upon in the backstage. Burnham comes in, Streeting gives a go, and there is a smooth transition.

I could imagine that they simply didn't want to have weeks or months of limbo while the world situation is as unstable as it is. Labour very much campaigned on "being different than Tories". And you could argue that a lengthy contest is counter productive. Especially if it turns into a media circus that only binds attention and resources, giving Farage room to attack.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Re: Britain's prime minister to step down, Burnham puts himself forward as successor

#115

Post by throwaway27448 »

gadders wrote: post #104
throwaway27448 wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He was elected to ensure nothing corbyn worked for would succeed, and in that sense he was perfect.

I think economics would have ensured that nothing Corbyn worked for succeeded.

We'll never know, because Britain hasn't pretended to give a shit about its citizens in generations

Re: Britain's prime minister to step down, Burnham puts himself forward as successor

#116

Post by KetoManx64 »

pjc50 wrote: post #52
OgsyedIE wrote: post #14

Whilst the value of the pound and NHS backlog did slowly improve under Starmer, my favourite part of his term was the 2024 interview where he described himself as not dreaming or having internal thoughts. I don't expect huge improvements under Burnham but I hope for at least some police manpower numbers to recover. There have been intermittent stories of planning, FSA and trading standards personnel being threatened…

The police swerved hard into deploying state capacity against exactly the wrong people: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/03/12/more-women-arres... Meanwhile ignoring the actually violent far right to the point that we had arson attacks in Belfast and a stabbing spree killer in Edinburgh.

Really? No mention of the recent study that came out of the 250k+ British girls that have been raped in the last decade?

Re: Britain's prime minister to step down, Burnham puts himself forward as successor

#117

Post by mytailorisrich »

SideburnsOfDoom wrote: post #100
mytailorisrich wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agree with your first sentence but he is described as being on the very left wing of the party and, if he becomes PM, it will be with the support of the left wing, not the blairites.

> he is described as being on the very left wing of the party By whom, and why are they worth taking seriously? Some politicians these days say all kinds of deranged nonsense about their opponents, and very often paint them as "far left" regardless of actual position. It's not worth taking at face value if it comes from there.

His 2010 leadership bid was very much on the left and now he is clearly pitching on the left, too. It may not be the furthest left but it is very left nonetheless and John McDonnell's support is not random. ot sure what's controversial or "deranged nonsense" there, strange...

Obviously we shall see what he actually does if he becomes PM.

Re: Britain's prime minister to step down, Burnham puts himself forward as successor

#118

Post by tim333 »

gadders wrote: post #15
bluescrn wrote: post #4

And he'll be just as powerless to solve any of the big problems as the last half a dozen PMs.

Well Starmer had a massive majority and could have got whatever was needed passed to sort out public finances, but his MPs rebelled (or he chickened out).

There isn't that easy a fix. Since Brexit "cake and eat it" lies, and "fuck business" deal (both Boris quotes), business has been a bit well, fucked. Hence high debt, poor economy, seven different prime ministers as people thinking sticking a different person in no 10 will make the screwed trade deals and huge debt magically cease to be.

Re: Britain's prime minister to step down, Burnham puts himself forward as successor

#119

Post by SideburnsOfDoom »

mytailorisrich wrote: post #117
SideburnsOfDoom wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> he is described as being on the very left wing of the party By whom, and why are they worth taking seriously? Some politicians these days say all kinds of deranged nonsense about their opponents, and very often paint them as "far left" regardless of actual position. It's not worth taking at face value if it comes from there.

His 2010 leadership bid was very much on the left and now he is clearly pitching on the left, too. It may not be the furthest left but it is very left nonetheless and John McDonnell's support is not random. ot sure what's controversial or "deranged nonsense" there, strange... Obviously we shall see what he actually does if he becomes PM.

> he is described

Still no specifics on who does this describing?

Wikipedia says that he is "soft left". i.e. not "hard left", the "very left wing" part of the Labour party that you claimed.

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