When assessing British political speeches, even many critics of the New Labour years measure success against Tony Blair, a leader whose podium appearances are regarded as the peak of oratory. On that measure, Andrew Marr, the former BBC political editor and now the New Statesman’s chief political commentator, reached for the ultimate accolade. Burnham’s onstage performance was also given instant praise by Tim Shipman, the right-of-centre Spectator magazine’s political editor.
He concluded it was sub-Blair, but “as good as anything we’ve seen since”. He wrote: “I’ve been attending party conferences since 2001 and in that time I’ve heard about 70 leaders’ speeches from all the parties. This was one of the most important and defining – I expect it will remain among the half-dozen most memorable.” Patrick Maguire, the Times’s chronicler of Labour’s inner workings, agreed.
Quentin Letts, the Mail’s sketch writer, said the speech was so saccharine in its plea for unity that “I got diabetic twinges”. While there was both fulsome and grudging praise for Burnham’s delivery – the Daily Mail’s highly critical editorial on the speech said the “PM’s performance was slick, oozing everyman charm” – its radical nature placed it squarely in the crosshairs of the right-leaning media. A new Brexit deal, the prospect of a proportional voting system, and his social care and housing plans were all targeted.
The Daily Mail’s front page described the “triple shock” of Burnham’s pension reforms, care plans and Brexit rethink. It, too, regarded the speech as the “most left-wing speech by a PM since [the] 1970s”. Likewise, the Telegraph said it was a “road back to a failed past”.
The Sun, which has a difficult relationship with Burnham amid claims that he will not give any interviews or opinion pieces to the once dominant red top, did not hold back. It labelled the speech the “Locky horror show”, a reference to Burnham’s reform of the pension triple lock guaranteeing big increases in the state pension. Trevor Kavanagh, the Sun’s veteran political commentator, was damning.
He described the address as “the most divisive speech I’ve heard from any prime minister”. He even described the prime minister’s emotional reference to his late father as “a blatant pitch for sympathy from voters who might otherwise have been shocked by what we can all now see as Burnham’s truly socialist revolution”. The Sun’s own editorial column lamented Burnham’s lack of action on cutting the “ballooning welfare bill”.
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