The announcement today that Andy Burnham has been elected as Labour leader comes as no surprise. He was, after all, in a one horse race. So he therefore undergoes a coronation rather than a contest. I remain to be convinced that this is the right approach. We barely know anything about what he plans for the country. A contest would have brought our his policies and put them in the spotlight.
We already have a precedent. Back in 2007 the coronation of Gordon Brown took place after Blair was pushed out. Those Labour MPs who were unhappy with the prospect of Brown as PM were bullied out of pushing for a contest. The result was a disaster. In the resulting one horse race, Brown was swept into 10 Downing Street and within weeks he was in trouble.
Burnham now needs to set out his plans without any vagueness. So, good luck to him but he needs to start telling us what he's all about.
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