What is the point of Andy Burnham?

He has been named shadow Home Secretary under Corbyn. He has served under Miliband, Brown and Blair (and briefly Harman) throughout his political career.

He is a yes man. He has no principles.

What does he actually stand for? What does he believe?

There is no one or thing he wouldn't serve under. hitler could lead the party and Burnham will be the first behind him.

Is he in it for the extra pay a cabinet ministerial Job inherits?

(edited 8 years ago)

That damn hitter.

Original post by Gears265

He is a yes man. He has no principles.

ding ding ding ding!

Agree totally, I love how when Corbyne suddenly became front runner Burnham decides to switch the real left charm on musing "...well I could nationalise stuff..". He's just a populist, disappointed Corbyne gave him the time of the day, but he probably knows that Burnham will do anything to be on the big stage so will be a reliable poodle.

Reply 3

ChaoticButterfly

Maybe he just tries to make the best of any situation?

Reply 4

Good bloke

Original post by Gears265

What does he actually stand for?

His own political career and a free bucket of slime with every policy decision.

Reply 5

Gears265

Original post by Good bloke

His own political career and a free bucket of slime with every policy decision.

Original post by joey11223

They could wrap a sheep in red and he will probably follow it, the man lacks spine something both Corbyn and Farage have nowadays- to speak their mind no matter the hate they will get in return, politics is lacking this. I am no supporter of Corbyn but I give him his due, he sticks to his principles.

Reply 6

joey11223

Original post by Gears265

I am no supporter of Corbyn but I give him his due, he sticks to his principles.

I'm really interested in how things will turn out assuming no coup before 2020 against Corbyn. With Cam out for 2020 and Osbourne in.....he's incredibly unlikable, I'm sure Osbourne will debate solidly and should be able to win on fiscal responsibility quite easily, but from a personality perspective Corbyn really should be able to win hands down if he plays his cards right. I'd also say the right wing press are going too hard too fast IMO, we've already got tons of Comrade Corbyn articles today, people will get literally bored and cynical of it carries on for five years, especially personal attacks.

Reply 7

Philbert

Original post by Gears265

hitter could lead the party and Burnham will be the first behind him.

Phew, Godwin's law narrowly avoided in the first post.

Reply 8

Gears265

Original post by joey11223

I don't see him winning. He lacks economic credibility and supports open door mass migration. Those two policies alone among many will be the deciding factors. Tories will most likely hold on to all their safe seats regardless and are not being impacted by UKIP as was assumed. People will shout for Corbyn as they did Miliband but on Election Day when people's pension, job and social security is at risk they will not go for Jeremy. Remember the benefit claimants, the zero hour contract workers, the general left and the union supporters account for a small proportion of the electorate regardless if they shout the loudest and get all the attention from the cameras and social media. Students are the biggest voice in opposition yet are among the lowest voting turnout by age. How loud your supporters shout doesn't reflect the tens of millions of voters out there. And even if all student/Young adults voted, they still account for a small proportion.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 9

Gears265

Original post by Drewski

That damn hitter.

Original post by Philbert

Phew, Godwin's law narrowly avoided in the first post.

Lol, it took me this long to notice the mistype, at least you gave me a good laugh

Reply 10

username402722

You could say the same about many MPs.

Except for someone who is as excellent a campaigner as Caroline Lucas or Stella Creasey.

Reply 11

Gears265

Original post by barnetlad

You could say the same about many MPs.

Except for someone who is as excellent a campaigner as Caroline Lucas or Stella Creasey.

Yes you could but he seems to be one of the recurring faces.

Reply 12

MagicNMedicine

What about David Cameron, what does he believe in?

When he first became leader of the Opposition it was "vote Blue, go green", he changed the badge of the Conservative party to a tree and said the Conservatives should be the guardians of the environment. Then he changed to asking his ministers to "cut the green crap".

When he started he said he was going to end "Punch and Judy politics" and now he uses PMQs as his forum for making snide jokes and put downs, saying "calm down dear" and so on - not saying he's alone in doing this, but what happened to the end of punch and judy politics...

At 2007 party conference he was pledging to match Labour's spending plans and saying don't believe the Labour myths that the Tories will cut spending. Then after the financial crisis happened he said Labour had spent too much for years, should have used the boom years to pay down debt. That would be convincing, had he actually campaigned for that before the financial crisis, but from 2005 to 2008 he was campaigning for more spending on policing, armed forces, NHS etc.

In 2010 general election campaign he said his big vision was about a "Big Society" of volunteering etc. Big Society got quietly dropped as soon as the election was over.

Then he was going to be tough on immigration and in touch with what the public thought - but immigration went up, higher than it was when he took over from Gordon Brown! And now he's saying the UK should take more Syrian refugees.

So what does David Cameron stand for....? Can anybody sum up his consistent principles?

Reply 13

nulli tertius

Original post by Gears265

What he stands for is loyalty. The isn't the position of a leader but it is nonetheless a very valuable commodity in a politician; the feeling that you will not stab someone in the back. Willie Whitelaw had it, so did Roy Hattersley. John Prescott has it. Possibly Ken Clarke had it. Although arguably it was he who finally told Thatcher to go, Clarke has never been the centre of plots and conspiracies.

Reply 14

Good bloke

Original post by nulli tertius

What he stands for is loyalty.

An interesting point. What do you make of Corbyn's refusal to sing the national anthem - a symbol of loyalty to the UK and its institutions? Will the electorate be interested in having a PM who deliberately shuns such a demonstration of national solidarity in the interests showing his disdain for one element (the monarchy) of the national character?

Reply 15

nulli tertius

Original post by Good bloke

He seems to be behaving with the surprise of someone who has just won Miss World rather than someone who had been a shoe-in for several weeks.

It was obvious that he would be haunted by the Donkey Jacket Question, yet there was no strategy to deal with it.

If he was not going to sing, he should have put out a press release beforehand:-

As a republican/atheist/detester of mid 18th century music, Mr Corbyn will not join in the singing of the National Anthem. Mr Corbyn will stand silently contemplating the terrible loss of life during World War II. Mr Corbyn has affirmed his allegiance to the Queen, her heirs and successors at the beginning of each new session of Parliament since his election in 1983 and will do so again when he joins the Privy Council shortly.

If he had done that, anyone challenging him about it would have looked like a bully.

The poppy issue was simply unnecessary. You have to invent a false symbolism for the red poppy before wearing it should trouble anyone's conscience.

I suspect there are other elephant traps to come.