Next!

So what the heck was the last two years all about and what follows now?

Seven Prime Ministers in ten years is not a good look for any country and, to my mind, speaks not just to the governability but the viability of the United Kingdom as a political entity going forward. It's a question I've raised many times before but today I'd just like to focus on where we are now that Keir Starmer is going and Andy Burnham is about to be sworn in as an MP in the House of Commons.

Like millions of other Brits, I suspect, I voted Labour at the General Election twenty-three months ago simply to get rid of the Tories. I wasn't expecting much and, in that, I wasn't to be disappointed. However, I certainly wasn't expecting to have my winter fuel payment withdrawn or to experience the problems I have had with Universal Credit since Labour came to power which I never had under the Tories. The bar of expectation was set very low and yet, even so, Labour under Starmer managed to limbo dance under it.

Commentators this morning have said that one would have to have a heart of stone not to feel some sympathy for Starmer as he stood at the lectern outside the front door of number 10 Downing Street - a sight that must now chill the blood of a British Prime Minister as the guillotine in Place de la Concorde did a Robespierre or Saint-Just - but I'm afraid my own heart was adamantine. Starmer was the author of his own downfall and utterly failed to heed the many well-meant warnings he was given along the way which may have prevented it. Worse, his obduracy seriously risked a Reform government in 2029. His problem was himself - and it was unfixable.

It seems almost a certainty that Burnham will be fast-tracked into the premiership. The great thing Burnham will bring to the post is a spirit of hope where Starmer and his Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, wasted at least a year peddling gloom about the state of the economy and promising continued austerity. The £22billion 'black hole', which may have been a handy stick to beat the Tories with in Labour's first few weeks in office, became a mantra of despair as the months went by. Now, at long last, the good news is beginning to emerge and Labour's many very real achievements in its first two years are finally being recognised and celebrated. Too late, though, to save Starmer's premiership. Burnham's upbeat and positive personality may yet save the day.

We can only hope so.

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