The faintest reminder to both Andy Burnham and Labour backbenchers that international bond markets are impervious to Manchester charm and positivity. Despite a summer of feel good announcements from the government, there is no escaping the fact that the country is still up shit creek. It’s going to be a tough ride ahead.
Nothing will come pain free. Still, a new prime minister has to learn to take the wins – however small – as they come along. In the wider scheme of things, a good prime minister’s questions means next to nothing: it’s nothing more than politics as performance.
Yet it can set the tone and buy a prime minister some goodwill from MPs and the media. Plus, it’s a weekly event so you may as well be good at it. Burnham can be very pleased with his first outing, even if it didn’t go totally as billed.
We had been promised a more consensual politics. That lasted all of five minutes. After that, it was business as usual.
Partly because that’s the way PMQs has always been set up, but mainly because Andy just couldn’t help himself. It would have taken a will of iron to resist. Not least because Kemi Badenoch made it so easy for him.
Not for the first time, Labour’s secret weapon is the Tory leader. She just can’t help herself from speaking without thinking, getting lost in her own sense of brilliance and failing to spot the traps she is setting for herself. Still, at least no one can call Kemi boring.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
