He’s had his Commons debut. For the first time since becoming our Prime Minister, Andy Burnham faced his first parliamentary scrutiny. It didn’t go well.
To be fair to our new PM, he hasn’t been at the despatch box for over 16 years. He hasn’t been in Parliament for 10. He’s never been the leader, so it would be foolish to expect a stunning debut. But he is going to have to quickly learn that pulling a pint, munching on a packet of pork scratchings and giving a double thumbs up whilst saying “I’m up for it, me!” is not going to cut it. Being prime minister is a very serious business.
And so Andy discovered on the first day back. The government’s handling of our finances means economists expect tax rises. When quizzed about this, he refused rule them out. The result? Bond prices fell and the cost of borrowing hit a 19 year high. Again, to be fair, the bond markets are febrile with problems in the US between the president and the Federal Reserve, as well as global geopolitics. But none the less, gilt traders looked for strong leadership and found it lacking.
Also, rather bizarrely, Burnham blamed the woes of the economy on Margaret Thatcher. Remember her? She was Prime Minister between 1979 and 1990. She would be 100 years old if still alive. The average age of MPs at the last election was 48. Not only would a large proportion of them not have been born when she last served, but the vast majority would not have been old enough to vote for or against her at her last election in 1989.
Still, if it’s his ambition to take us back to the 1970s, we’d all better stock up on candles. Electric strikes, mortuary attendant strikes, and bin strikes were rife. But I suppose Labour led Birmingham City Council is well prepared for bin strikes.
There is a lot that Burnham can blame on predecessors, and he had a go at Brexit. That is not unreasonable as it is a very recent event. But he is learning fast that he cannot blame everyone else for everything that is wrong. He has to deal with it. He has to fix it. He has to make a load of difficult decisions. The buck stops with him. Let’s hope he really is “..up for it, me!”
