So it begins….. Streeting resigns

ronib

Such optimism MaizieD. 1976?

Optimism about what?

Was he? I hadn’t noticed. He is good at capitulating to the BMA. Starmer is not a bad man but he lacks action. I was more interested in the letter Jess Phillips submitted tbf.

His slate can hardly be called clean , for starters he is the protege of Mandleson, I’ve read some of his tweets that are on X atm, they are unpleasant and some down right violent, he must be very annoyed they have resurfaced and will bite him in the bum. I’m fairly sick of the lot of them, as for Burnham, his history is hardly laudable, encouraging the hormone medicating of children and refusing to back inquiry into grooming gangs despite the pleas of many victims and children. A General Election may well be in Oder.

MaizieD

Casdon

I think it’s all speculation regarding the seat. The sitting MP hasn’t actually handed in his resignation to prompt a by election. If Burnham gambles his own future on an unsafe seat, he is a fool.

AI thinks that he would only have to give up the Mayoralty if he became an MP. Though the examples it gives are from the other direction, MPs who have given up their seats when elected as metro Mayors.

Clearly, if Burnham lost he would lose a lot of kudos, but it appears that he wouldn't lose his current job.

That’s interesting, I wonder if that’s behind his thinking, if he’s got nothing to lose apart from his street cred.

Clearly, if Burnham lost he would lose a lot of kudos, but it appears that he wouldn't lose his current job

So, this man supposedly really wants to lead this country because he cares about us all … but might be able to hang on to his mayoral job if it all goes ti** up at the by-election.

All he’ll lose will be kudos; much higher stakes for the rest of us.

Oh well, as long as he’ll be OK when the rest of us are suffering the depravity of a Reform government😡

Such optimism MaizieD. 1976?

Browncow I just wish there was a coalition to put this country back in its feet at the moment it is so divided and there feels no hope

Talk about Burnham hedging his bets!

I can only add to the general consensus...I took am sick of politicians.

Casdon

I think it’s all speculation regarding the seat. The sitting MP hasn’t actually handed in his resignation to prompt a by election. If Burnham gambles his own future on an unsafe seat, he is a fool.

AI thinks that he would only have to give up the Mayoralty if he became an MP. Though the examples it gives are from the other direction, MPs who have given up their seats when elected as metro Mayors.

Clearly, if Burnham lost he would lose a lot of kudos, but it appears that he wouldn't lose his current job.

ronib

How close is this country to having the IMF take over? Gilts are at an all time high?

Nowhere near at all. Gilt yields may be high, but the interest paid on them remains the same as when they were first issued (unless they were index linked). So it would only be a cost to the government if it started selling gilts at a higher interest rate.

The 'yields' are those applying to gilts bought and sold on the secondary market, the government doesn't see a penny of these transactions.

Government bonds/gilts are initially purchased because they are a secure instrument for saving, unlike any other investment. The secondary market is the place for speculators. Successful ones make money, unsuccessful ones lose it. The state of the yields is only of concern to the market participants.

The time to worry is if there are no purchasers for initial bond/gilt issues but that seems unlikely when bond auctions are always oversubscribed and the imminent prospect of a global depression caused by Trumps illegal war sends people to safe investments; none safer than Treasuries.

The UK cannot go bankrupt because it has its own sovereign currency, which it is able to issue at will. Talk of the IMF is nonsense.

nanna8

If and when Reform win that seat I suppose it will all go round and round again. A lot will not want any of them and they will not vote for Burnham just because they don’t want to be manipulated. But of course these politicians can’t read the room, can they ? So full of themselves.

Don’t often agree with you nanna8 (although like to disagree agreeably😉) but I’m with you on this.

The people in this country most gagging for a leadership election are the media (it’s click bait for them) and some MPs - the usual suspects and/or the new recruits!

Interestingly, on last night’s Question Time, Fiona Bruce did a straw poll asking ‘hands up if you want Keir Starmer to go’. Fewer than half put their hands up. I know it’s not a reliable representation, but it may give some indication of the public mood.

I think many British citizens don’t want all this chaos … and many politicians can’t read the room.

If there is a new Prime Minister he/she would doubtless have a reshuffle and could remove Hermer. Then there could be an Attorney General who is a sitting MP, be present in the Commons and actually make speeches, take parts in debates and most important, answers questions.
Starmer, who seems unable to function without an 'advisor', relies heavily on Mandelson and Hermer, and I am quite sure Mandelson is on the end of a burner phone somewhere still telling him what to do.
I gather Starmer is still refusing to answer any questions from the Press.
Big mistake.

I think it’s all speculation regarding the seat. The sitting MP hasn’t actually handed in his resignation to prompt a by election. If Burnham gambles his own future on an unsafe seat, he is a fool.

If and when Reform win that seat I suppose it will all go round and round again. A lot will not want any of them and they will not vote for Burnham just because they don’t want to be manipulated. But of course these politicians can’t read the room, can they ? So full of themselves.

ronib

How close is this country to having the IMF take over? Gilts are at an all time high?

And why is that … it’s because the markets hate instability, uncertainty and chaos!

Well done the panicking newby Labour MPs, Streeting, Burnham et al for inflicting all the above conditions on the country!

Regardless of who takes over from him when he goes, will Sir Keir take the Attorney General Lord Hermer with him? It has always seemed to me that these two are not just close friends, but practically joined at the hip. Does the Attorney General have to stay in place, or could there be a reshuffle in that department lurking on the horizon as well?

ronib

How close is this country to having the IMF take over? Gilts are at an all time high?

They are higher than under Liz Truss’s leadership I believe, which is quite an achievement…

How close is this country to having the IMF take over? Gilts are at an all time high?

Whitewavemark2

From what I am reading at this point of time, it seems that when the voting comes to the Labour Party membership, Angela Rayner is a shoe-in.

Make of that what you will.

I think she may be WW.

However, if Burnham wins the by-election, then stands against Starmer, I don’t think Rayner will stand against Burnham. So her name wouldn’t be put to the membership.

She’ll want to be ‘on Burnham’s side’ when/if he becomes PM, so she’ll get a top job.

I think this is why she’s keeping her powder dry and not declaring at the moment. She’s waiting for the outcome of the by-election.

Bluddy politics, eh!

Meanwhile … who’s running the country while they’re all conniving in dark corners in the HoC tea room🙈

LizzieDrip

I agree that the issues facing Burnham’s Manchester mirror those facing the entire country; just one example … inequality:

“The city is highly unequal, with extreme disparities between its most and least deprived areas, frequently described as a divide between "have-nots" and "haves".

Despite all his ‘best efforts’ Burnham, after almost 10 years as mayor, hasn’t managed to overcome these issues.

So why is the Labour Party tearing itself (and potentially the country) apart to clear a path for him to Number 10?

Crikey- I don’t know that any city Mayor or PM for that matter has ever “managed to overcome these issues”!

Fairer to look at Burnham’s performance in the round than disparage him for not walking on water. He wouldn’t have won three successive mayoral elections if the majority of the voters living in GM judged his efforts as failures.

I’m willing to be proved wrong about Burnham, if course.

If he does achieve his ambition to become PM, and in 2 years time we’re all living in sunny uplands, I’ll hold up my hands.

We’ll see!

Allira

Somehow Farage popped up on my FB feed today. Why? He was complaining about a Guardian journalist outside his house and saying this is why he needs a protection officer.
He courts publicity then complains when he gets some.

Be careful, posters, he's getting in everywhere. Is it because I sometimes look at the Guardian online?

What can or should he do though, in reality?

From what I am reading at this point of time, it seems that when the voting comes to the Labour Party membership, Angela Rayner is a shoe-in.

Make of that what you will.

SporeRB01

If Andy Burnham becomes the next PM, I hope he does something to resolve the North - South divide and the wealth inequality between the two regions.

Perhaps make Manchester a rival city to London and link Manchester to the northern cities with good and affordable transport links. So that the wealth from Manchester can spread to the Northern cities and towns, the way the immense wealth of London spreads to the South East and home counties.

That is the reason why so many in the North living in deprived areas vote for Reform. They were hoping under Labour, their lives will get better, instead there is no change, in fact their lives are getting much worse because of the rising cost of living.

Instead of listening to their concerns, Keir Starmer call them racists and tell everyone his Chancellor Rachel Reeves is doing a very good job.

Yes. Johnson was going to 'level up' the North (and you're right that it extends beyond Manchester) but did nothing, despite saying he was aware that Northerners' votes had been 'loaned' to the Tories. Nothing has really happened since then to make a difference. I think too much has hinged on the idea that northerners will always vote Labour, so the Tories ignore them and Labour is complacent. Now that Reform has found a way (however dishonestly) to make a lot of the disaffected feel 'heard', perhaps they will be.

The trouble is that to begin to make things fair, investment will have to come out of London and the South, so it may end up with just a redistribution of geographical support rather than a redistribution of numbers.