Burnham's bloodbath of the Starmerites
7/21/202639 min
Andy Burnham has gathered his cabinet, with several prominent Starmer allies shown the door and Burnham loyalists taking their place around the table. The cost of living is to be the defining mission of his premiership - announcing a cut to VAT on energy bills as his first major policy and a scrapping of Starmer's digital ID scheme to pay for it. But Former Chief Secretary to Starmer, Darren Jones, was quick to point out that the scheme itself was unfunded, highlighting the tough choices to come for Burnham's new Chancellor John Healey.
Does his intervention speak to a wider disgruntlement among Starmer’s allies? And is Burnham off to a good start? Or is he at risk of making more dangerous enemies than useful friends?
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First 90 secondsSpeaker 10:00
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Speaker 20:30
[upbeat music] This is a global production.
Lewis Goodall· Host0:35
The bloodbath of the Starmerites. We have a new cabinet for Andy Burnham. What does it tell us about where he's going?
Jon Sopel· Host0:41
If you were disloyal to the Prime Minister, the then Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, you are going to be rewarded. John Healey, congratulations, you're Chancellor of the Exchequer. Wes Streeting, you're now the Defense Secretary. Ed Miliband, well done, you're now the Foreign Secretary.
Lewis Goodall· Host0:55
If you think your political career is, is over, then what do you do?
Andy Burnham· Soundbite0:59
Life's hard out there, isn't it, at the moment? You've heard me, uh, talk about the doorstep in Makerfield. Um, we need, uh, to every day think, well, what can we do just to take that little bit of pressure off people's shoulders, just to give them that little extra sense that help is coming. We need to be a cost of living government and getting that cost of living, uh, down and looking at all possible ways of, of doing that.
Lewis Goodall· Host1:29
Andy Burnham