The outcome of the Prime Minister’s make-or-break speech yesterday morning was never really in any doubt, was it? It’s break. Did anybody except Keir Starmer himself think it could possibly win the nation over? He is, after all, one of the weakest of the country’s public speakers, whose attempts at warmth, sincerity and human feeling lack the easy bonhomie of a supermarket self-checkout. Keir’s speech merely reinforced all his bad qualities, reminding us of his unique ability to make our blood boil while simultaneously boring us to tears.
Yes, Burnham is more likeable than Keir Starmer, and seems more like a human being – but then, so is Davros
In such dire circumstances, it is natural and understandable that Labour would start to think longingly of alternatives. But is Andy Burnham really the shining beacon that will lead Labour from the dark, or just another ghost-light?
It’s rather odd, in fact, that such an unexceptional figure as Burnham has been built up as a saviour, to the extent that several sitting Labour MPs have emotionally offered to lay down their own seats and their own careers for him, like heroines in a Victorian melodrama. This is embarrassing behaviour, and seriously underestimates the electorate’s propensity for bants. The good people of Norwich, I suspect, would be unable to resist rewarding the noble sacrifice of Clive Lewis with a by-election win for Reform or the Greens.
