555. Burnham’s Cabinet Purge and Rough Sleeping Pledge: Will Britain's New PM Succeed?
7/21/202657 min
What does Andy Burnham’s purge of Starmer loyalists from the top of government tell us about how the new British prime minister will govern the UK? Why did Ed Miliband drop his ten-year Energy Security and Net Zero project to become Foreign Secretary? Can Burnham end rough sleeping nationally, after struggling to do so in Manchester?
Join Rory and Alastair as they answer all these questions and more.
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsAlastair Campbell· Host0:01
Andy Burnham yesterday became the seventh UK prime minister within just over a decade. Surely he has to last longer than his predecessors if Britain is to rediscover its reputation for mature, serious politics. To do so requires two things above all, an agenda that makes life better for people and a team to deliver it. The team is becoming clearer with a pretty brutal purge of Starmer supporters. And the appointment as Chancellor, not Shabana Mahmood, not Ed Miliband as so many in the media said, but John Healey, whose resignation as Defense Secretary not long ago was a really big blow to Keir Starmer. And though it may yet lack detail, the agenda is becoming a little clearer as well. I, for one, very pleased that his first big pledge was to end rough sleeping, and today we have the promise of a cut to fuel bills. But the truth is he faces much the same challenges as Keir Starmer did. So will Manchesterism transfer to the whole of the UK? Will the purge backfire? Will he and John Healey get the economy going? And what is Andy Burnham's worldview?
Rory Stewart· Host1:12
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Alastair Campbell· Host1:17
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Rory Stewart· Host1:27
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