Am I just being impatient and mean? New PM

Once Parliament resumes, he will have to accept that much of the day-to-day work is cross party and carried out in committees in Westminster. MPs need to be in Parliament to take part in debates and divisions.

Is there any way he can get around that I wonder?

Funny that butterandjam. Funny in that thousands of people voted for him to make him the MP. Hey Ho.

MaizieD

^Scotland hasn't forgotten the stench surrounding the career of Anas Sarwar's politician father Chaudhury Sarwar; (who was himself blocked from a life peerage by the House of Lords Appointments Commission on the advice of HM Revenue and Customs).^

Oh. The sins of the father are visited on his children?

The son's political career was funded and launched by the father.

Musical chairs at the 2010 General Election; when the music stopped, dentist Anas Sarwar was the new MP in the Glasgow seat his father had just vacated.

Totally agree with your post butterandjam.

The duplicity of the Burnham’s coup is staggering. It stinks!

Word is that Josh Simons is to be rewarded for standing down in Makerfield by being given the Head of No 10 Policy job. Not sure which No 10 … as we now appear to have 2!

Comparing all the PMs Sunak was the biggest user of jets by far.

MayBee70

I’ve just read that Burnham used a government jet to fly to Manchester yesterday…( happy to be corrected on this)

Yes Burham did use the government airbus on Thursday afternoon and then Friday morning. It wasn't possible for Burnham to meet his packed diary commitments on Thursday and Friday unless he used the government airbus.

AB flew on the government VIP airbus which departed from a private section of Stansted airport so secure, no queues, no check in delays and no airport security to get through. The airbus also has a highly secure wifi connection so government minsters can continue to work securely on line and make secure phone calls.

Cameron, May, Johnson, Truss, Sunak, Starmer all used the VIP airbus, though Sunak was criticised for more often using private jets. The Ministerial Code has clear long standing rules for the appropriate use of the VIP airbus for government domestic and international travel to permit use for operational, security and schooling priorities and commitments.

The flight from Stansted to Glasgow took 55 minutes on Thursday, then Glasgow to Manchester early Friday am took 38 minutes (so around 1.5 hours total during which AB could work securely). In comparison the 2 separate train journeys, 4.5 or 5.5 hours London the Glasgow and around 3 hours 20 mins G to Manchester respectively, with actual delays a whole working day essentially that AB would not be able to meet others. Trains of course are often subject to unforeseen departure delays, possible cancellations, wifi connection not secure etc.

AB started off his day on Thursday working in London- then went on to the Hare pub in Harlow Essex to make a policy announcement. From there he went to a private section of Stansted airport to board government VIP Airbus for a 55 minute journey to Glasgow on which he could securely work.

On arrival in Glasgow AB then met with the Welsh First Minster (who also no doubt has a packed diary) and others. AB then went on to the Commonwealth Games where he sat beside King Charles and Camilla for the Opening ceremony that began at 20.00 that carried on late into the evening. So a long day.

AB then had an early start Friday morning and a 38 minute flight to Manchester to open No 10 North. All of these commitments reported in the press and he would have had to leave London early am for a 5.5 hour or 4.5 hour train to get to Glasgow in time to meet the Welsh First Minster- so all other Thursday. commitments would have to have been cancelled.

Just looked on line- the last train from Glasgow to Manchester leaves at 20.06 so he wouldn't have been able to be at the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games with King Charles that began at 20.00

The Commonwealth Games won’t be opening every Thursday so I doubt AB will take a flight every week from London to Glasgow and then Glasgow to Manchester every Thursday. Time will tell and AB's use of the government airbus compares to his predecessors.

The press and others parities will complain about PM jet travel- twas always thus. As long as AB uses the government airbus in line with the Ministerial code he is no worse than all recent PMs.

I’ve just read that Burnham used a government jet to fly to Manchester yesterday…( happy to be corrected on this)

MaizieD

Hmmm.

While people are looking at Burnham's 'wheeler dealing' I hope they won't forget what got Starmer into position...It was murky, to say the least.

Though the fact that Josh Simons (who gave up the Makerfield seat for Burnham) was a leading player in the Starmer leadership bid does make it all a bit weird. What is going on?

At least Starmer ousted a party leader who had lost two elections when most would have stood down after losing the first one. And then won the election for them.

Hmmm.

While people are looking at Burnham's 'wheeler dealing' I hope they won't forget what got Starmer into position...It was murky, to say the least.

Though the fact that Josh Simons (who gave up the Makerfield seat for Burnham) was a leading player in the Starmer leadership bid does make it all a bit weird. What is going on?

I don't think the father has anything to do with it but I really hadn't picked up on the rest yet butterandjam.

Thanks. Will take a look.

I do have all the wheeler dealing.

Top marks for the House of Mirrors post of the day butterandjam, I enjoyed that.

Scotland hasn't forgotten the stench surrounding the career of Anas Sarwar's politician father Chaudhury Sarwar; (who was himself blocked from a life peerage by the House of Lords Appointments Commission on the advice of HM Revenue and Customs).

Oh. The sins of the father are visited on his children?

@Cossy "*He faces all the same problems as Starmer,*"

Is this a surprise to you?

Burnham and his accomplices got rid of Starmer for just one reason, to promote Burnham's personal ambition. To that aim, Burnhams has distorted the British electoral and Parliamentary system.

He resigned his seat as MP. to become Mayor of Manchester and build an image as "man of the people".

A sitting MP was then persuaded to resign their safe seat for a by-election to get Burnham back into Parliament where his ambition as leader of the LP and PM was unelected and unopposed.

The Labour party "Starmer must go" campaign was led by Anas Sarwar, MSP, leader of the Labour Party in the Scottish Parliament.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anas_Sarwar

With Burnham as PM, Sarwar then resigned as MSP in Holyrood and Burnham has appointed him to Westminster Cabinet as Minister for Trade and Industry.

Neat, huh?

To enable this, Sarwar will be elevated to the House of Lords to make him a member of Westminster Parliament.

(Do you get that? Sarwar has never stood for election to Westminster Parliament but now he's to be a Govt Minister in Burnhams Cabinet. The reward for helping Burnham get rid of Starmer.

Both Burnham, and Sarwar, have previously called for the abolition of the HOL. The hypocrisy, the naked manipulation, are breathtaking.

Burnham has set out his stall and it stinks.

Scotland hasn't forgotten the stench surrounding the career of Anas Sarwar's politician father Chaudhury Sarwar; (who was himself blocked from a life peerage by the House of Lords Appointments Commission on the advice of HM Revenue and Customs).

He’s not a social media dinosaur. I suspect that of us, comparatively, are. We will know if his message is getting through soon enough.

We will also know within a month or two if the general public, as opposed to those from within the left of the Labour Party, and those who would never be Labour supporters, think he is doing a decent job.

NotSpaghetti

I haven't seen any social media videos.
Where are they?

Facebook and instagram.

Yes, he’s far more manipulative and cunning than KS; he’s already proved that in his rise to the top job.

There’s no doubt that Burnham’s team are proving very adept at using social media to reach people, something that Starmer was never comfortable with. Like it or not, that’s the modern world and something Reform use to their advantage.

There’s one where Burnham shows someone around his new Manchester office. Here’s a Smiths’ gold disc. I must give it back to Johnny Marr. Here’s a poster of the Brit Awards.

I think the next bit was staged. He’s “caught” looking at a webpage (which I don’t think exists) headed “Proper British Tea”. He shuts his laptop quickly and says, “You don’t need to see that”. After the cameraman leaves we see him making his own tea in a Union Jack mug.

I wondered about the latter because revelations about Farage and Cottrell talk about how they enjoy a “Proper F***ing Lunch” meaning they go somewhere very expensive and drink a lot of alcohol. And we know Reform like a flag.

In addition, we had Burnham and Healey sitting in a pub ranking bar snacks from pork scratchings to McCoys while drinking pints of lemonade. I wondered if that was a jibe at Farage too as we’re never more than five minutes away from another picture of him drinking a pint of beer.

It may be cringeworthy but it’s all part of the PR machine until they have to get down to some serious work after the summer recess.

LBC’s Ben Kentish posted something that struck me:

All the focus is on the social media videos but the really clever part of Andy Burnham’s comms this week was detaching the policy announcements from the media appearances. Keir Starmer used to announce things in speeches or at press conferences and then take questions, giving journalists an immediate chance to get him to comment on something else which would then become the story. The 6am announcements this week, with Burnham only doing media much later in the day, ensured the announcement led the agenda for much of the day.

Clever.

Hear, hear Graphite👏👏👏

Crikey!
I have been down ^such& a rabbit hole with Andy Burnham social media!
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

...hope it doesn't come back to bite me! 🤔

I rather like this graphic which was posted on another platform.

However I do think it's a mistake for him to have a no10 of the north in Manchester.
It really should be further north. in the north

I agree NotSpaghetti It's grated on me his King of the North title - either make it North West or don't use the stupid bloody moniker. I live in the north - he isn't my King

GrannyGravy13

Calendargirl

Just an observation, but why is the bus fare cap £1.75 for London, and £2.00 for everywhere else?

It’s little things like that which suggests ‘North and South’.

Sadiq Kahn is in charge of TFL (Transport for London) and has set the cap. so nothing to do with the PM

I was just about to point that out, too

Calendargirl

Just an observation, but why is the bus fare cap £1.75 for London, and £2.00 for everywhere else?

It’s little things like that which suggests ‘North and South’.

Sadiq Kahn is in charge of TFL (Transport for London) and has set the cap. so nothing to do with the PM

If his target audience is Mumsnet … very little love for him on there. Although I suspect he’s trying to appeal to an even younger demographic.

I don’t mind if I’m an outlier in my opinion of AB - if it’s deemed ‘petty’, so be it.

It’s still my opinion and I’m certainly not trying to change anyone else’s POV. Just saying what I think🤷‍♀️

Just an observation, but why is the bus fare cap £1.75 for London, and £2.00 for everywhere else?

It’s little things like that which suggests ‘North and South’.