- A river runs through it part one - 17th August 2026
- Nigel Farrago - 14th August 2026
- Struck out - 14th August 2026
Today the former mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham will enter Number 10 Downing Street, gaining huge influence over everybody’s lives (including people in Wales), WITHOUT a mandate from a General Election (GE).
To some it may seem like a bad joke (although it is entirely constitutional), but this extraordinary situation has been widely condemned.
Mr Burnham is to pledge to bring “stable and responsible” politics to the UK (motherhood and apple pie anyone?!), and will say that he is “acutely conscious” of being the latest in a long line of leaders to walk through that famous black door.
He will describe the moment as one of “reflection and resolution”, and say that Britain needs to be honest about the challenges it faces while showing that it can “once again be recognised around the world for effective government”.
This political stability, he will argue, must deliver tangible improvements to people’s lives, and he will promise to “give Britain more breathing space” – this is a phrase which echoes Sir Keir Starmer’s pledge at the start of HIS premiership to “tread more lightly on your lives”.
All of which, many might suggest, is just a series of vapid WORDS!
It is highly unusual, because like Gordon Brown before him, he was long seen as the hot favourite, so he has secured the Prime Ministership (PM) without another candidate standing against him, and is preparing to name his cabinet.
At an event in London, it was Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood (widely speculated as a contender for a top post in that cabinet), who made the declaration of his party leadership.
It is also unique for it to happen only two years into a parliament, where the incumbent has swept to power with a thumping majority of 411 MPs, and onlookers fear that this bizarre event could further undermine voter disillusionment, with it making unfortunate headlines in UK newspapers, such as “Who voted for Burnham?..” in The Times, and “…we want an election now (emphasised)“ in yesterday’s Mail on Sunday (MoS).
Therefore we here re-publish The Eye’s story from last week about this astonishing incident…
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During 23 years with the BBC, and in a 42 year journalistic career (when he was trained to use clear and simple language, avoiding jargon), for our Editor, Welshman Phil Parry, it has always been vital to know the names of MPs in Wales, as well as members of the Welsh Parliament/Senedd Cymru (WP/SC) (formerly the Welsh Assembly), in order that these people could be contacted for a comment – and this is now highlighted by Andy Burnham becoming Labour leader today, and soon to be made Prime Minister (PM), so there will be NEW names to learn!
Pity the poor reporter and others.
Before I entered Current Affairs (CA) television, investigating questionable issues, I was for several years a news reporter (starting in newspapers and then moving onto HTV and BBC Wales Today), when you would be reporting on the main story of the day, and invariably contacting the local MP or MS (before that the AM), to comment on the subject.
Some of these individuals went on to become ministers (one I knew well – first getting to know him as a councillor in my patch, before he became a Cardiff MP THEN a UK Government minister).
But all of this will be made harder soon, with the former Manchester mayor Andy Burnham (presumably) bringing in his supporters to UK Government and giving them highly-paid jobs with influence over everybody’s lives.
Mr Burnham will take over from Sir Keir Starmer as Labour leader today, after winning the support of the party’s MPs, and this means he will soon be made the UK Prime Minister (PM) (on Monday in fact), becoming the SEVENTH one in the last 10 years!
The process that we have seen MANY times, will begin with Sir Keir meeting King Charles to offer his resignation formally as PM, with the King meeting Mr Burnham soon afterwards.
Mr Burnham will then be asked to form a government, who is then likely to head straight to Downing Street, where he will probably give a speech outside No 10 saying what an honour this all is.
This is discombobulating enough, but it is only relatively recently that we had an election to the Welsh Parliament/Senedd Cymru (WP/SC), when the new First Minister of Wales (FMW) Rhun ap Iorwerth brought in HIS supporters as WELSH ministers, when I had only just learnt the names of the LAST lot!
For example, there was the obscure Julie James who was made Welsh Counsel General in 2024, alongside being appointed Minister for Delivery.
The then FMW Eluned Morgan (ANOTHER name which will soon be forgotten!) also nominated the unknown Vikki Howells as Minister for Further and Higher Education.
It’s not just journalists either who should be pitied.
The poor voter too may be getting tired of this incredible merry-go-round, and election fatigue could set in.
Mr Burnham had only returned to Parliament a month ago in a by-election, with his victory over the UK Reform candidate convincing many Labour MPs he was the right candidate to replace Sir Keir.
In 1945 the turnout figure was 83.9 percent, but at the 2024 one it was about 60 percent, the lowest since 2001, when it was 59.4 percent.
This 2024 figure came even after the drama of Brexit, and the extraordinary spectacle of witnessing ministers, as well as PMs come and go.
Other senior Labour figures (such as centrist one-time UK health secretary Wes Streeting), abandoned their own leadership ambitions and got behind Mr Burnham, along with the overwhelming majority of the party’s MPs.
Mr Burnham has also made plenty of promises in relation to spending, but could be unable to implement many of them, because the UK is in such deep financial trouble, and this, too, may endorse the view among voters that there is little point in trudging to the polling booth, as nothing changes.
Mean wages have grown by just one per cent in real terms since 2024, and by a paltry 4.5 per cent since April 2008 (a third as quickly as American wages).
More trouble could lie ahead too, if Artificial Intelligence (AI) displaces the legions of white-collar knowledge workers who make up the UK economy’s backbone.
Low growth is also bad for the ailing public finances.
Public spending has risen from 39 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2019-20 to 45 per cent today.
An ageing population and rising defence commitments could push it higher still, with tax revenues (37 per cent of GDP) struggling to cover Mr Burnham’s largesse.
Nor will greater borrowing help, because debt interest this year will cost £109 billion (more than the education budget), and bond investors charge the UK higher interest rates than any other big rich country, so they jump at the slightest hint of profligacy.
Since warning last year that we are too “in hock” to the bond markets, Mr Burnham has toned things down a little – suggesting that he supported the UK Government’s current fiscal rules and would have a plan to get debt down.
By their nature, the rules (self-imposed limits on borrowing and debt), are a straitjacket worn by successive administrations to reassure those in the £2.9 trillion market for UK government debt that Britain is a safe bet.
So there will be ANOTHER load of names to learn soon – which is bad for reporters, and this ridiculous spectacle could be even worse news for voters.
The memories of Phil’s extraordinary decades long award-winning career in journalism (when the turnover of senior political leaders was nothing like as great as today in the beginning), during which he was gripped by the rare neurological disabling condition Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP), have been released in a major book ‘A Good Story’. Order it now.
Tomorrow – disturbing news today that Russian hackers have infiltrated the email accounts of UK government officials, and that polls show civilians there are becoming uneasy about the Ukrainian war’s progress, highlight once more how The Eye too have been targeted by the country.
Soon – the bounce in the polls enjoyed by Labour, with Andy Burnham at the helm.
