Of all the epithets thrown at a new prime minister, “people-pleaser” bounces off Andy Burnham. After all, the polls have him with a favourability rating of +13, making him the only party leader who scores above zero. His manner as he responded to all 125 of his questioners on his first Commons appearance this week had a warmth and empathy that his predecessor lacked.
It’s a natural timbre, a good bedside manner for an uneasy country. Keir Starmer’s rating as he left office was -36. He was defenestrated precisely because of his unpopularity.
That baffled his allies, but his ratings crashed early into an electoral death zone from which no leader returns. His revenge comes in giving Labour a potentially awkward byelection confrontation with Zack Polanski: although, just as Burnham defeated the right in Makerfield, any candidate under his leadership stands a good chance of defeating the Greens in Holborn and St Pancras. Starmer’s fall began soon after Labour’s landslide victory in July 2024 with his message of foreboding gloom in the Downing Street garden.
The country faced an economic and societal “black hole”, he said, adding that “things will get worse before they get better”. Burnham has avoided that kind of misery, on Tuesday making a promise to “unlock a feeling of positivity and possibility” in every part of the country. Hope is always better than despair.
It has its own elevating power that can stimulate growth, social optimism and investment. Even in the face of coming storms, it’s better by far to have a leader who raises spirits in adversity. The strongest El Niño on record, exacerbated by the stresses of the climate emergency, will hit the UK with tempestuously alarming weather through to early 2027.
Equally alarming was that, even as Burnham spoke, the bond markets set off their own El Niño with their global sell-off raising interest rates across the world, especially on UK debt. Their preference for investing in AI companies over governments may be the wrong bet, amid warnings of this bubble bursting to the devastation of the global economy. And still there is no sign that Donald Trump will end his calamitous war with Iran and free the world from its economic blight.
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