00:00We've had a succession of sort of leaders in the last 10 years, seven prime ministers to be exact,
00:06and they've come in different shapes and sizes and political interests and sort of philosophies
00:13and so on. Andy Burnham is interesting because of course we should remember he was a man that
00:19was an MP in Parliament, a government minister, and he served under the tail end of the Labour
00:25administration which left power, also lost power in the 2010 election and he served under sort of
00:32various leaders including Jeremy Corbyn. So of course he has a rich background, somebody who of
00:38course was always seen as if you like a future leader but they say that about lots of people
00:42but what Andy Burnham does bring in sort of bucket loads is that sort of sense of authenticity,
00:48the fact that he sort of speaks like somebody who comes from outside the Westminster bubble even
00:52though he's had plenty of experience in it, the fact he dresses differently in so far as of course
00:58he wears t-shirts now and of course I sort of contrast that with the sort of the last leader
01:02Keir Starmer who of course was seen as if you like wooden, didn't have that sort of ability to reach
01:08out. Now Andy Burnham of course he has that sort of common touch in a way perhaps and of course
01:12I
01:13know they're very very different characters. Boris Johnson had the sort of the ability if you like,
01:17the sort of the Heineken politicians can reach parts that other politicians can't reach,
01:21but Andy Burnham can sort of seem to do it. But of course being able to sort of be able
01:26to
01:26reach out to people is one thing, you have to have policies that are credible and we've seen
01:31this over a number of policies which are sort of genuinely and absolutely certain meant to sort of
01:36to make life better for people. The difficulty of course he's had is people are asking where's the
01:41money going to come from it but of course they say about that every new policy that comes along
01:45there is always that difficulty. Well an Ipsos survey carried out between the 12th and 16th of June,
01:50that's before Burnham became Prime Minister, found 42% thought he had a lot of personality.
01:57The same proportion believed he was in touch with ordinary people. 42% considered him likeable
02:03and experienced while 39% believed he understood the problems facing Britain. His nine years as Greater
02:10Manchester Mayor also gave him an executive record outside Westminster. The findings suggest his
02:17personality and perceived connection with ordinary people are central to his appeal.
02:24But of course Andy Burnham of course he's had this if you like this this honeymoon period which if you
02:30remember Keir Starmer never really sort of benefited from. Of course he won the sort of the Loveless
02:35landslide back in sort of early July 2024 and things seem to sort of go wrong. So so far it's
02:42been okay for
02:43Andy Burnham that he'll be gearing up for whenever the parliament comes back in September and then of
02:49course the sort of the policies go on the statute book or well they they make sort of the the
02:53claims
02:53about the policy they're going to put on the statute book and of course that's where the real difficulty
02:57will occur because of course Burnham is trying to be beat lots of different things to different
03:02sort of interest groups. So in many ways he's being sort of leftist but in some ways he's being
03:07rightist or rightist in a sort of populist way and of course the sort of difficulty is that within
03:13his party there are sort of factional groups and of course they they've managed if you like to sort
03:18of unite themselves because of course it was ABS anybody but Starmer. So they've got him but of
03:25course they've got the replacement but are they going to back him to the hill because of course in
03:30order to sort of be the man that he wants to be and to produce the results that they all
03:34want to
03:34benefit from which of course is to sort of to get back up in the opinion polls and to have
03:38some sort
03:39of chance of winning the sort of next election which they certainly sort of didn't seem to have
03:43under Keir Starmer. They're going to have to sort of to perhaps um you know choose some sort of
03:47uncomfortable sort of pills in order to sort of support some of the legislation that will be sort
03:52of coming down the line. So I think it's going to be sort of quite difficult and Andy Burnham is
03:56going
03:56to have to call on all his political skills to sort of to negotiate this but that's the nature of
04:01a
04:01political leader and I think he has that sort of sense of being in touch with the sort of the
04:05the various faction of the party in a way which Keir Starmer did not and of course he has a
04:10sort of
04:10single-mindedness about things he wants to do and recognize of course he has limited time because
04:15yeah I don't think there'll be a sort of a snap election because the opinion polls would indicate
04:20they they would not win win but I do believe that um you know we could probably go the full
04:25three years
04:25so even then of course he's got less than sort of three years to uh produce some sort of results
04:30or
04:30tangible results where people feel better because as we know it's about people feeling so they'd have
04:36some benefit in their pocket and if they do not feel that they're not going to vote for the party
04:40they put in last time. Well the most recent polling suggests the bounce should not be overstated.
04:47More in Commons survey conducted between the 31st of July and the 2nd of August placed Labour on 27%
04:54and reform on 24. However YouGov polling conducted on the 2nd and 3rd of August put reform back in front
05:02on 23% against Labour's 22. Burnham has improved Labour's position but the surveys do not demonstrate a secure
05:12or lasting lead.
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