DAILY MAIL COMMENT: The PM's Left-wing rhetoric, the bond markets and a VERY harsh lesson in economics

READ MORE: Kemi vows to slash the benefits to boost defenceSee more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source Published: 19:59 EDT, 2 September 2026 | Updated: 21:12 EDT, 2 September 2026 It is difficult to imagine how Andy Burnham failed to see it coming. But after blaming Britain's travails on Margaret Thatcher's legacy, he is now being taught a harsh lesson in the political ideology named after her.The bond markets' reaction – considered the most reliable barometer of success or failure in the Thatcherite economic sphere – to Mr Burnham's parliamentary debut as Prime Minister has been both swift and devastating.Against a backdrop of growing unease at the likely content of next month's Budget, his obsolete Left-wing rhetoric proved deeply unnerving to financiers. Even Lord O'Neill, a distinguished economist and ally of the PM, described 'the tone' of his speech as 'the last thing investors wanted to hear'.The consequences will be felt by us all. With ten-year gilt yields reaching an 18-year peak at one point, the prospects of hefty tax increases and soaring mortgage rates are both significantly higher.Speaking yesterday, Mr Burnham again refused to rule out tax rises or borrowing increases. Instead we heard - yet again - about 'growth in every postcode', 'bringing back hope' and other platitudes that are already beginning to sound threadbare. Andy Burnham again refused to rule out tax rises or borrowing increases. Instead we heard - yet again - about 'growth in every postcode', 'bringing back hope' and other platitudes that are already beginning to sound threadbareHis lack of a strategy to reduce the benefits bill in marked contrast to Kemi Badenoch, who today outlines a roadmap for delivering further welfare cuts on top of the £23 billion in potentially savings already identified.Of course, part of the problem is that Mr Burnham seems convinced that every long-term benefits claimant actually wants to do an honest day's work. Even if he believes it himself, he is unlikely to win an argument against the vast majority of hard-working taxpayers on that score.Nor, unless he drops the misty-eyed, 1970s-style dogma and joins the real world, has he any hope of persuading the money markets that he should be anywhere near No 10.Time for actionThe threat posed by Vladimir Putin to Britain has increased sharply in recent weeks.Following Mr Burnham's bold show of support for Ukraine, the language emanating from the Kremlin has taken on a more sinister tone. Now it emerges that a smirking Putin remarked that it was 'a military secret' when asked if UK factories could be targeted by Russia.How much more convincing do Labour need that spending 3 per cent of GDP on defence by 2030 is an absolute necessity? We are not talking about a harmless game of Dungeons and Dragons here.Full credit is due to Mrs Badenoch for drawing up a detailed strategy to meet the 2030 deadline. It can only be hoped that her initiative will shame the PM into taking the appropriate action.Unsisterly conductThroughout her long career, Labour grandee Harriet Harman has been a tireless champion of women's rights.Her published works include a pamphlet on sex discrimination and, famously, she once appeared in the Commons wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the slogan 'This is what a feminist looks like'.Yet there was little in the way of sisterly solidarity when she remarked that Conservative frontbencher Claire Coutinho – who is pregnant and on maternity leave – had been promoted on 'woke' grounds.Imagine the self-righteous uproar if a veteran Tory had made a similar comment about a woman on the opposite side of the House? But we shouldn't be surprised - it's one set of rules for the Left, another set for everyone else…