Andy Burham’s tedious centrist dad act is falling apart already

Peter Cardwell is a presenter on the Talk radio and TV network and a former Conservative special adviser Authenticity is rare in politics. Andy Burnham, soon to be the UK’s new prime minister, who reminds us frequently he is dead northern, would like us to believe he’s a nice guy who has just happened to get to the top of politics through hard work, integrity and sorting out Manchester’s buses. But his tedious schtick as a sub-David Brent centrist dad from t’north, dancing awkwardly to New Order, dissolved within moments of the first real scrutiny he has received since being re-elected as an MP. On Friday, the newly-crowned Labour leader could barely keep a straight face when denying to the BBC’s Political Editor that he had been part of a plot to bring down his predecessor, Sir Keir Starmer. Burnham’s sidekick Louise Haigh, set to become his Cabinet Office enforcer in the reshuffle, has already publicly revealed in a BBC podcast the plot had been going on for a year. Burnham simply wasn’t telling the truth. At least Burnham actually took some questions from a journalist on that occasion, rather than meaningless TikToks about such major issues as how he likes to put milk in his tea first. Utterly untested in foreign policy and defence, he deemed it appropriate for his first intervention on foreign policy to be a trotting out of anti-Israel cliches on yet another social media video. This was followed by an interview with Gary Lineker, expressing those same cliches to the former Match of the Day presenter, a sharp critic of Israel who was forced to resign from the BBC after sharing a social media post about Zionism that included an illustration of a rat, historically used as an antisemitic insult. Lineker later apologised and said he had not known about the “offensive references” when he shared it. Yet, we know nothing of Burnham’s views on the Iran war or the entire issue of immigration, for example. This is someone who now leads a G7 nation. It would have been helpful, instead, for Burnham to be interviewed on Sunday by someone like Laura Kuenssberg. Instead, the woman who wants to replace Burnham was grilled. Kemi Badenoch’s performance on Sunday demonstrated again how she sees her duty and role is to oppose. Typically, when a prime minister announces they are standing down, warm words from the Opposition follow. Instead, on the day, Badenoch instantly labelled Starmer “a terrible Prime Minister”, listing his failures on welfare, national insurance and Mandelson. In the Kuenssberg interview itself (with the BBC on Sunday), Badenoch made clear she doesn’t buy into easy-breezy Burnham’s hope-ey, change-ey plan for a UK politics reliant on vibes rather than policy. Badenoch told the BBC: “I will score as many points as possible if it means the right thing for the country. What I’m not going to do is give Andy Burnham a blank cheque. This is a man who doesn’t want scrutiny. He doesn’t want anyone asking him tough questions. He just wants to be a people pleaser. What the country needs right now is someone who can take tough decisions… He has not said what he’s going to do. It’s all airy fairy stuff.” The same necessary brutality will come Burnham’s way in short order in the House of Commons. It is doubtful the man Badenoch has already labelled “a pair of eyelashes and a black t-shirt” is ready for her. Because after early outings as a spiky, awkward performer, Badenoch has become entirely comfortable with the display of her intellect, erudition and humour. She is ready for Burnham. Commentating on Prime Minister’s Questions for the Talk radio and TV network each week, I’ve seen her grow in confidence and eloquent ferocity. However, Starmer confirmed in their final encounter she is also a woman of integrity when it came to offering private comfort to him on the death of his brother and when his home was firebombed. This matters too. Badenoch is also under much less pressure than Burnham and can go for broke. Despite slightly better ratings as leader of the opposition – plus the Conservatives’ Opinium rating overall hitting its highest mark since April 2025 – she has little to lose. Few seriously expect Badenoch to become prime minister in 2029. So she is free, in a way Burnham is not, to experiment and to go in hard. This is often demonstrated beyond Parliament, notably on the campaign trail in May when she took on a heckler who repeatedly challenged her on her views on rising antisemitism. She spoke firmly but politely to the heckler for some minutes. It’s difficult to imagine Burnham putting himself forward for such unscripted scrutiny and coming out of it so well. In a recent unannounced “ask me anything” stunt in Cardiff, we were given just a two and a half minute video of him trotting out yet more meaningless platitudes. As Badenoch attempts to transform her party into one of government again, almost certainly planting trees whose fruit she will not benefit from, she can enjoy the role of scrutiniser in chief of the UK’s 59th Prime Minister and give it all she’s got. It is doubtful, given the precision and effectiveness of her early Burnham barbs, that the Prime Minister will have the same positive experience in office that he enjoyed as a lightly scrutinised city mayor.