James Lyons
Former Downing Street Director of Strategic Communications and Senior Partner, Penta Group consultancy
Andy Burnham’s coronation has handed Labour the golden opportunity of a second chance at a first impression. He should seize it with the same urgency Tony Blair and Gordon Brown showed in 1997, flooding the news agenda with a shock-and-awe blitz of defining announcements.
Keir Starmer’s first weeks in office were dominated by rows about free suits, specs and Taylor Swift tickets. The controversies torpedoed his promise to do politics differently in the eyes of the public. The only story Keir’s new Government produced to knock the rows off the front pages was the decision to slash winter fuel payments for pensioners which, as he and his wife Vic pack their bags in No 10, is still coming up on doorsteps and in focus groups.
On being crowned leader, Andy promised the biggest political change in 40 years. He needs to show he has both the ideas and the plan to deliver it from day one. Ideally, that includes a signature policy that tackles the public’s number one issue, the cost of living crisis, that cuts through as much as winter fuel.
