menu_open Columnists
We use cookies to provide some features and experiences in QOSHE

More information  .  Close

Andy Burnham needs to offer more than a personality transplant to revive Labour’s credibility

20 0
19.06.2026

So far, so good for Andy Burnham in his bid to oust the terminally mundane Keir Starmer.

Long before the Harrington-wearing ‘king of the north’ launched his audacious and convoluted leadership challenge, there was an overwhelming sense of disappointment with this Labour administration. After more than a decade-and-a-half of Tory rule, there was an expectation of something better when the new government came to power on the back of a convincing electoral victory less than two years ago.

Yet quickly it became apparent that there was little noticeable difference between what had come before.

Rather than the ‘change’ on which Labour had campaigned, we got prosaic presentation, coupled with policy indecision and a complete abandonment of the party’s leftist roots.

Northern Ireland election results as shock sees Ian Paisley lose to Jim Allister while Sorcha Eastwood makes history in Lagan Valley

If any issue illustrated how far Labour has moved from its traditional base it is Gaza. Starmer’s support for the Zionist project, which has been pursued with ruthless violence by Israeli president Benjamin Netanyahu, followed by the subsequent criminalisation of peaceful........

© The Irish News