And so it came to pass. Suddenly, all the fight went out of him.
"I have heard the answer of my parliamentary party ... and I accept that answer with good grace."
Oh, really? Let us be the judges of that. If I were a gullible Labour leftie who'd had higher hopes back in 2020, I'd be fairly bitter. Andy "novelty factor" Burnham will be having all those hopes projected on him now. Good luck with that. I guess he's at least got the advantage that hopes will be set rather lower now. "Hope he doesn't accept too many freebies ..."; "Maybe he believes in something ...".
Spare a thought for Sadiq Khan, who "paid tribute to Sir Keir Starmer as 'a man of great integrity' ". Well, it takes one to know one: pardon me while I mop up this pool of spilled tea. Oh, tragedy: this moment should surely have been Sadiq's - how he's been trying to figure out how he could do a Burnham before Burnham himself pulled it off. So now he'll have to wait for another mainstream Labour meltdown. If the Tories are the model for modern British politics, that'll be along as soon as the latest lettuce wilts. Early GE, anyone?
That said, I'm not sure Khan looks terribly well just now. Let's charitably blame the new haircut. Now, about that critical upcoming NATO summit next month ... what's your foreign policy, Andy? And defence spending? They are all looking at you.
ND
Is it only 2 years Starmer has been in. Feels much longer.
ReplyDeleteMaybe he still bills like a lawyer - 48 hours for every 24.
I agree Khan does not look well. The so called pool of talent that is the PLP is very shallow. I wonder if Gordon Brown will keep his new job?
ReplyDeleteKhan doesn't look well ?
ReplyDeleteNothing trivial, one hopes
What a ghastly, horrid little man. Ascends to the highest seat of power in the land, and doesn't know what to do with it. Aside from punishing all the plebs who have a vision of a very different UK. Clinging on for dear life so he can do what, exactly? Certainly nothing that benefits us.
ReplyDeleteWe are well rid of the man. Sadly, his successor is unlikely to be willing to offer a different vision.
I think we will shortly see which tack Burnham will take, when we see how he deals with Milliband, Reeves and Rayner.
If they remain in situ, then I think we are in continuity Starmer territory.
In many ways, does it matter any more? 40% of E&W births have at least one parent born abroad. Demography is destiny.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.lbc.co.uk/article/migrants-babies-fertility-rate-falls-5HjdZnb_2/
All we can do is sauve qui peut.
The BNP were right.
The National Front were right.
Enoch was right.
For all I know the British Movement were right.
All too late now.
Are we certain he won't do another U-turn?
ReplyDeleteReeves rushing off in that outfit - talk about presaging a pink slip.
CH
Starmer hasn't actually gone yet - so NATO, whatever summit, continues as before, but obvious "lame duck" possibility. That said, likely that the mandarins, whether FCO, MoD and so on, will keep going on the same path, as they'll maintain the same briefing.
ReplyDeleteTo a certain degree, that'll constrain/bind Burnham & Co, who isn't in place yet, and the NEC still has to follow it's own rules, as it's not solely down to the MPs.
To a certain degree, the Mayoral model currently looks like one (accidental) way of keeping the Farage-style political outsider out of the game as far as the Labour Party itself goes.
The cost is that it has allowed non-Westminster figures, Khan, Burnham to get flagged up as serious contenders for the leadership, being mini-Presidents or PMs in their own right, whilst being comfortably at arms length from the Commons.
Timescales might be screwy, and the situation might fall apart anyway, but looks like there'll be more of this sort of stuff.
Burnham might not have as much time as he thinks.
I’m not sure a degree in mascara application will do the new PM much good on the international stage but it might get him some freebies from the gay Muslim.
ReplyDeleteSurely they HAVE tp have a GE? No mandate for the Blairite with an embarrassment of eyelashes who thinks women shouldn't have sex based rights...
ReplyDeleteOT - Israel wrecked the China/Iran corridor
ReplyDeletehttps://www.linkedin.com/pulse/chinas-shattered-corridor-belt-road-initiative-war-habib-al-badawi-xeorf
"The international community, for its part, faces a normative challenge of the first order. The deliberate targeting of civilian economic infrastructure—financed by a third-party state, designed to serve commercial purposes, and protected by the foundational norms of international humanitarian law—has been normalized through the destruction of the China–Iran railway without triggering a response commensurate with the gravity of the precedent established. The failure to hold accountable those responsible for that destruction is not merely a matter of legal principle; it is a structural invitation to further episodes of infrastructure warfare by any state with sufficient air power and political insulation to attempt it."
DeleteIndeed. Maybe as a result China will be a bit more 'accommodating' to Putin's desperate salesmanship for more direct hydrocarbon exports
ReplyDeleteAlthough right now, of course, Putin faces an acute interdiction-based oil emergency of his own ... one that is set to send Russian inflation from its current high (but unacknowledged) level into new territory
China (IMHO foolishly) faffed around with Power Of Siberia 2 gas pipeline, driving for a hard bargain. I imagine recent events may be reminding them that money isn't everything. But ... even "new" American companies like Shark/Ninja outsource all their manufacturing there...
DeleteAs for the drone wars, it's too early to tell. I remember when Bayraktars were the wonder weapon. One area where the US does have an advantage is in satellite comms and observation. I wouldn't like to see low orbit made unusable (and Musk bankrupt) by a debris cascade, but it's preferable to nukes.
I’m very negative on China in various areas but they excel at long term thinking (as it appears to them, at any rate). PoS-2 would significantly raise Russia’s share of Chinese gas imports (potentially toward 20%+ or a large slice of pipeline gas), creating single-supplier risks that clash with Beijing’s long-standing diversification strategy. I don’t see why China would change that in a hurry for short term considerations.
ReplyDeleteBesides, have you seen Gazprom in Google Reviews? Lots of unhappy customers (or former customers) and many one-star ratings, especially from Germany.
As for China’s manufacturing base, I do hear a lot about volumes. I hear very little though about profitability, capacity utilisation percentages or debt servicing coverage as a ratio of income. While there’s always anecdotes about this-or-that company having operations there, there is a net capital outflow for FDI, so the overall picture is not great.
Many China boosters like to quote gross FDI figures (not least the CCP) which include things like repatriated profits by Chinese companies operating overseas and Chinese companies registered abroad investing domestically in China in a form of self-investment.
DeleteThe real picture is much more problematic https://www.state.gov/reports/2025-investment-climate-statements/china
Energy prices are leaving Europes industry to be savaged by Chinese competition
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jun/26/vw-cut-jobs-shut-plants-volkswagen-china
VW has had structural problems for 10:years at least, maybe 20. It has since forever tried (sometimes unfortunately for it, successfully) to lobby its way out of its problems https://www.euractiv.com/news/vws-electric-push-cant-go-any-faster-says-ceo/ rather than innovating.
ReplyDeleteTesla seems to be doing just fine manufacturing in Germany https://www.investors.com/news/tesla-berlin-gigafactory-vw-job-cuts-auto-industry-germany/