Paranoia in the Labour Party: the Andy Burnham enigma
7/2/202620 min
Andy Burnham is keeping his cards close to his chest and no one seems to know who'll get what job. That means there's a huge amount of paranoia and jostling for position the Labour Party. Cabinet ministers and MPs are lavishing praise upon him, but they're worried about his plans - both on policy and personnel. There's a lot of ill-feeling that could bubble up to the surface surprisingly quickly.
Steven Swinford, political editor, The Times
Patrick Maguire, chief political commentator, The Times
Producers: Euan Dawtrey, Harry Kitson
Executive producer: Molly Guinness
Picture: Getty Images
00:00 - Burnham's Intense One-on-One MP Meetings
00:32 - Paranoia and Panic in the Cabinet
01:44 - Will Burnham Appeal to Southern Voters?
02:50 - Desperate Ministers Begging to Keep Their Jobs
03:40 - The Ghost of 2007: Burnham's "Woman Problem"
06:13 - Ed Miliband's Chancellor Dilemma
07:18 - How Departments Are Pandering to Burnham
08:29 - Is David Miliband Making a Comeback?
10:54 - The Real Reason Angela Rayner Has Been Weakened
13:10 - Burnham's Frustration with Westminster "Ambulance Chasers"
16:56 - A Long Goodbye: Starmer's Farewell Barbecues
17:30 - The £15 Billion Defence Plan Black Hole
18:20 - Government Paralysis and the Rochdale Case
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsSpeaker 10:00
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Steven Swinford· Host0:09
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Steven Swinford· Host0:59
[gentle music] How is Andy Burnham spending his days? He is trying to meet every Labor MP just about, and every minister. He's having one-on-ones in Portcullis House just over there, uh, in his office, in a whips office that's been given to him for this period of time. And when he's sitting there, some of them are just very direct about the jobs they want and why they'd be really good in those jobs, and it's kind of like a what have you got for me thing.
Patrick Maguire· Host1:22
Mm.
Steven Swinford· Host1:22
And he's quite taken aback by that. [upbeat music] Welcome to The State of It, the political podcast from The Times and The Sunday Times. I'm Stephen Swinford,