Can a new PM fix broken Britain?
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What challenges does the revolving door at 10 Downing Street present?
ABC Listen. Podcasts, radio, news, music and more. Hi, I'm Patricia Carvellis, the host of Politics Now. And sometimes it can be hard to cut through all the noise from the Canberra bubble. But on the Politics Now podcast, bursting it wide open is our core business. I'm joined by the brightest minds at the ABC to break down the polyspeak and have a chat about what's actually going on behind the scenes. It's called Politics Now and you can find it on ABC Listener.
Who is Andy Burnham and what are his chances as the new PM?
There's a revolving door at 10 Downing Street. Prime Minister goes in and then is popped out again. This time it was Keir Starmer. So can his likely successor, the former Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, last the distance? Today, Simon Tormey, Professor of Politics at Deakin Uni. on why Britain's woeful economy will make it hard. I'm Sam Hawley on Gadigal land in Sydney. This is ABC News Daily.
Simon, we used to love changing prime ministers in Australia. In fact, we did it all the time. But I think the Brits might have perfected the art. Seven prime ministers in just over a decade. They really like doing this, don't they?
Another way of putting it is that we've got a kind of crisis-prone system political system where successive prime ministers have basically either proven themselves to be incapable or unwilling to take the difficult decisions which confront a country which is in kind of relative decline in European and global terms and there are tough choices to be made and some of them are more likely to make it than others.
All right, well, Keir Starmer, of course, he is the latest to stand outside the door at 10 Downing Street and resign.
The question my party is asking now is whether I am best placed to lead us into the next general election. I have heard the answer and I accept that answer with good grace. That is why I will resign as leader of the Labour Party.
Now, in his speech, he listed his achievements, he thanked his family.
I shall spend more time on the most important job, being the best husband I can to my fantastic wife, Fig, and being the best dad I can to my beautiful children, who are my pride and my joy.
But wow, it's really brutal, isn't it? Because he actually won an election in a landslide just two years ago.
He did. It was a landslide in terms of the proportion of seats in the House of Commons. But of course, it was actually quite a... a weak vote in terms of the overall sort of picture in UK politics. So Labour only won 34% of the vote on a 60% turnout. So you've got to think that basically one person in five voted for Labour. But the net result was, of course, as you pointed out, 412 Labour MPs out of 650 seats. So it's also a reflection of the very disproportionate nature of how British elections work, that someone who wasn't actually terribly favoured by the British electorate nonetheless managed to, as you say, achieve a landslide. Really, Labour was seen as a kind of relief option after 14 disastrous years of conservative rule.
All right, OK, so, Simon, it looks pretty likely that Andy Burnham, the former Manchester mayor who won a parliamentary seat at a recent by-election, will be the new PM. Now, he was actually sworn into Parliament just after Keir Starmer resigned.
I swear by almighty God that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles, his heirs and successors, according to law. So help me, God.
Now, does it look likely that anyone would challenge him for that prime ministerial spot?
Well, it looks very much like Andy Burnham will be the next Labour leader and by extension, therefore, prime minister of Great Britain. But it's quite nervy out there in House of Commons land. And of course, there will always be those people who are very sceptical about a kind of coronation. Just Andy Burnham rocks up having won a by-election last Thursday and greeted by crowds and then becomes Labour Party leader and then Prime Minister. There's going to be people who are saying, hold on a second, that just really gives him untrammeled power. What about if we put up a stalking horse candidate, as we would put it in the UK, that might be able to sort of make his path a bit choppier than might otherwise look?
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