Tuesday briefing: Inside Andy Burnham’s first day
Good morning, and let’s abandon all conditional tenses because finally Andy Burnham is UK prime minister and, on a day of ceremony and celebration, he pledged his government would be “a circuit breaker for Britain”. A defining characteristic of Team Burnham thus far has been the concentrated silence at its heart – a vacuum filled by increasingly frenzied speculation in recent days about his cabinet picks and policy priorities. As the black box finally cracked open on Monday, with his first instruction as prime minister – to end rough sleeping – and his surprise choice of chancellor, I was at the Guardian’s head office in London, speaking to editors and correspondents covering the early hours of Burnham’s premiership about what they might reveal for the country. Five big stories UK news | A 28-year-old man from Rotherham has been charged with the murder of the former MP and Reform UK party spokesperson Ann Widdecombe. Technology | Cases of predators coercing children into harming themselves or producing sexual photos and videos of themselves have surged globally in the past year, child safety experts and law enforcement officials warn. Iran | Nearly 100 US service members have been injured over the last two weeks of escalating strikes on Iran, the Pentagon has said, as Tehran launched a wave of reprisals to the tenth consecutive night of attacks. Ryanair | The airline has reassured travellers that its planes are safe after a passenger was almost sucked out of a window mid-flight this month, and have reported strong summer bookings after a profits slump. UK politics | Reform UK MP, Sarah Pochin, has complained that the standards system investigating Nigel Farage over undeclared gifts is a “kangaroo court” and that “the media, the British state and the old parties have mounted a vicious and desperate campaign to stop Reform UK”. In depth: ‘He is at his greatest moment of power right now’
Since his return to the Commons last month, Burnham has engaged in minimal media activity, eschewing set-piece interviews for curated online Q&As with the public, and the occasional podcast or TikTok – most recently revealing his approach to tea-making (milk first, which is the best way, don’t write in). First Edition readers were positive about more direct contact with a new leader – some of you wrote in to tell me as much in response to a recent call out. But other were worried about the risks of a scrutiny gap, and that’s what I raised with political editor, Pippa Crerar, when we spoke as she got to her desk in the Commons early yesterday morning. “We all recognise this is a very strange interregnum,” Pippa told me. Team Burnham had anticipated having more transition time over the summer, and his time in recent weeks has been taken up with the heavy detail of staffing, civil service handover and policy development. She points out that, with parliament now on summer recess, the usual scrutiny of weekly questions and committee appearances is paused until September. “And obviously it’s a concern that journalists haven’t had the chance to interrogate him on his plans.” “It has made it really difficult,” she adds. “He’s kept everything – all his policy and personnel plans – in what MPs have described as a ‘black box’.” The only people privy to its contents as we speak on Monday morning are Burnham himself, James Purnell, his chief of staff and former colleague in Tony Blair’s cabinet, and Louise Haigh, the former transport minister who became his right-hand woman during the Makerfield byelection campaign. This secrecy has also his left his own MPs, including senior figures used to being in the loop, “quite jittery” after the initial rush of his re-election to the Commons, when an apparently Python-loving Tory MP heckled “he’s not the messiah” as Burnham was sworn in. (Or a “messiah without a mandate” as the Mail continues to describe him.) “Andy Burnham is at his moment of greatest power right now – when we don’t know who he’s going to appoint and what he’s going to do – because everybody has used him as a depository for all their hopes. And inevitably, people are going to be disappointed as a result of announcements he makes today and over the course of the coming weeks.” What really matters now is the policy, says Pippa – what will Burnham decide to do about the cost of living, tax or the North Sea? *** Early disappointment? One First Edition reader told me over the weekend that her early optimism had been crushed by the weekend’s speculation that Burnham will announce new plans for drilling in the North Sea. So, after morning conference, I caught up with our environment correspondent Sandra Laville. “At the moment it’s unclear what’s going to be announced: if it’s giving the go-ahead to drilling in Rosebank and Jackdaw [licenses that were approved by the last Conservative government] that’s something that is in line with the Labour manifesto and we know that Ed Miliband was considering.” “But he could make a more front-foot argument about why we shouldn’t drill more,” Sandra tells me, explaining how wrong-headed our obsession is with finding a quick fix for the current energy crisis. “We know, for example, that Jackdaw would only provide 27 full-time jobs, and that the green economy – which is worth more than £100bn a year – is where investment should be going if Burnham wants to see growth.”. *** The speech With Keir Starmer’s resignation offered to the monarch, and Burnham officially UK prime minister by lunchtime, he addressed the country for the first time, without podium or notes, in front of one of the most recognisable addresses in London, but surrounded by faces from further afield – Liverpool mayor Steve Rotheram, cradling his baby grandson, former Everton manager Peter Reid, and Arooj Shah, ex-Oldham council leader. Also watching the speech was our community affairs correspondent Chris Osuh, who spoke to me afterwards from Manchester where he picks up “a genuine excitement” about the arrival of a politician who understands the country beyond the bounds of the M25 and where Burnham’s No 10 North will be based. With a 10-year plan for Britain in the works, he was sounding dangerously close to prime ministers past: didn’t that Starmer fellow offer “a decade of national renewal”? But measures to help with cost of living “including how we pay for them” are due later today, and expected to include cuts to energy bills and bus fares. His first instruction in power – after he walked into No 10 with his wife Marie-France, to raucous applause – was to end rough sleeping, a flagship policy from his early days as mayor of Greater Manchester. For Chris, this was a very deliberate choice to tie previous ambition to national delivery, and hinted at the philosophy underpinning his premiership. “We know that Manchester’s regeneration predates Andy Burnham, but the rough sleeping policy was distinctly his. I don’t think anyone in Manchester believes the work is complete, but it’s a long-term programme that’s beginning to bear fruit and similarly taking this policy to national scale is about Burnham’s ambition and vision.” Chris reminds me that Burnham is the first official Labour and Co-operative MP – a movement rooted in the north-west – to become prime minister. “When he talks about a new economic model and power being decentralised, I wonder how much that philosophy, with its tradition of place, people mattering, and community control is playing a role.” *** The cabinet When Shabana Mahmood and Ed Miliband strolled along Downing Street together on Monday afternoon in a neat bit of choreography, the bond markets didn’t know where to look. Reporting last week had been pretty definitive that, after a bitter briefing war and backlash from big business, Miliband’s candidacy for chancellor had been derailed with market-friendly Mahmood the shoo-in. Then came the first appointment of the day and a genuine surprise: John Healey, whose resignation as defence secretary pushed Keir Starmer’s leadership to the brink, was made chancellor. On reflection, says opinion columnist Gaby Hinsliff, it was “a cleverly brokered compromise”. Unlike Mahmood, he has years of Treasury experience working with Gordon Brown (where he first got to know Burnham). And unlike Miliband, “nobody in the Labour party has got a bad word to say about him”. Healey is not at all factional, Gaby tells me, “which is why his resignation was such a cataclysmic moment for Starmer”. And perhaps that explains why Burnham, who has vowed to end in-fighting and damaging briefings, went for him in the end. What’s clear is that all those folk claiming to know his mind on this critical appointment really didn’t. Miliband heads up the Foreign Office, where it’s expected he’ll spearhead a more pro-Gaza positioning after Burnham said the party must “do better” on the Middle East and dealings with Israel. Mahmood remains at the Home Office – “the best job in the business” she said yesterday evening – where Burnham has already expressed support for her controversial immigration reforms, and current foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, takes on the health and social care brief. Wes Streeting, whose resignation as health secretary also helped pave the way for Burnham’s rise to power, has been given the substantial role of defence secretary. (Our list of who’s in, and who’s out, is here). Burnham said that his cabinet choices would reflect all parts of the party. While his wholesale clear out of Starmer loyalists – former chancellor, Rachel Reeves, was reportedly offered another senior role but declined it – came as little surprise to lobby observers, they may yet provide those factional briefings from the backbenches that he’s so keen to stamp out. *** The in-tray Liveblogging the first day of his sixth prime minister in a decade, Andy Sparrow doesn’t seem as vexed as some about how much of a challenge Burnham faces in trying to be bold while sticking to the manifesto commitments of a previous leader. “It’s a mistake to think that the manifesto is a padlock on his ambition,” says Andy. Granted Burnham doesn’t have the kind of mandate that comes after an election victory, or even winning a leadership contest – but Andy points out that a manifesto is essentially a series of red lines. “There is scope for doing ambitious, interesting things without dishonouring the spirit of the manifesto.” Andy praises Burnham’s initial remarks for their “strong streak of humility and realism”. The new prime minister acknowledged he was part of the problem, calling on “my generation of politicians” to “raise our game”. “The country is still dealing with the wash-up from Brexit,” says Andy, a vote that told those in power – if they chose to listen – that there were many places in the country “where people were really fed up with the way the system works”. “Rather than just ignore those places and pretend it never happened, he is tapping into that frustration, but trying to give it a different answer.” What else we’ve been enjoying
The Cockroach Janta party started as an online joke, but has grown into a major anti-Modi political force in India. This excellent explainer by Hannah Ellis-Petersen in Delhi has all you need to know. Michael John Hughes wrote the script to my teens, and I was tickled to read that he was such a details guy that he even picked Mathew Broderick’s socks for Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Libby Football might not have come home, but it did head to María Ramírez’s casa. She writes about the unifying atmosphere in Madrid after Spain’s World Cup victory. Vamos España! Michael What begins as a thoughtful interview about who space belongs to with physicist Laura Grego quickly escalates to discussion of why recent movie depictions of nuclear annihilation are not so far-fetched. A bracing read. Libby Yes, fine, I first clicked on this story because it has “poo” in the headline, but George Francis Lee’s lessons from a shampoo-free year really did surprise me. Michael Sport
Football | Kevin Keegan, the former England and Newcastle manager who was twice European footballer of the year and a stalwart member of Liverpool’s serial First Division and European champions in the 1970s, has died aged 75. Rugby | England’s players have questioned the current Nations Championship format after being required to play Test matches on three different continents on successive weekends. Golf | Bryson DeChambeau has been accused of threatening to call Donald Trump during a row with senior R&A officials on Friday, after the American golfer was handed a two-shot penalty at the Open. The front pages
“Burnham arrives as PM with promise to ‘bring back hope’” is the Guardian’s splash today. The Times has “New PM starts with a purge”, the Telegraph leads on “Burnham pins hope on Healey”, the i Paper says “Burnham era begins with radical pledge to transform UK” and the FT’s headline is “Burnham takes over as premier with pledge to make Britain ‘believe again’”. The Express writes “Let’s hear how you will ‘bring back hope’ then Andy”, the Mail has “Let’s pray he knows what he’s doing …” while the Mirror says “It starts now”. Lastly, Metro, playing on the number of prime ministers Britain has had in the last 10 years, asks “Seventh heaven?”. The Latest
Andy Burnham becomes Britain’s new prime minister Andy Burnham has become the sixth UK prime minister in a decade after a transfer of power from his predecessor Keir Starmer. In his first address outside Downing Street, he said his arrival in power would be a ‘circuit breaker’ moment for Britain and that his government will bring the ‘biggest changes in 40 years’. Lucy Hough speaks to political correspondent, Alexandra Topping. Cartoon of the day | Ben Jennings
The Upside A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad
When a friend first mooted to Joanna, 50, that they go to raving, her internalised ageism reared its head and she felt “almost repulsed by the idea”. Indeed, when the University of Leeds studied the physical and mental health benefits of raving in women aged 40-65, they interviewed women who were more than used to being asked “Whose mum are you?” on the dancefloor. But the stigma is increasingly lessening and, whether it be exercise, release, or community, women are finding myriad reasons to return to clubland. As psychotherapist Rachel Giddings notes, raving provides the opportunity for women “to reclaim their identity outside ‘I’m a carer’, ‘I’m a parent’, ‘I’m a worker’ – I’m not just one dimension but multifaceted and this amazing part of me can be spontaneous and free and connected”. Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday Bored at work? And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow. Quick crossword Cryptic crossword Wordiply
