SO WOODEN HE HAD TO RECLUTANTLY DO A TRUMP
RAJPAL ABEYNAYAKE WRITES …
Another British prime minister bites the dust. This time it is the most wooden PM that country has had in more than a hundred years.
But why does the wooden Starmer have to step down in sodden spirits?
He has to give way to a slightly less wooden—but still wooden—rival contender for his party’s leadership, Andy Burnham, who was threatening to burn him at the stake if he didn’t quit. Burnham was so wooden that he had lost twice in the leadership stakes for the Labour Party, once to Jeremy Corbyn, an accidental leader who was propelled to the leadership from the backbenches because someone, for the heck of it, suggested that he run for the leadership—since he hadn’t a ghost of a chance to win anyway.
But win he did, and guess whom he beat in that leadership race: who else but the newly “charismatic” Andy Burnham.
Burnham lost so many leadership contests that eventually he took off, resigned from parliament, and became a mayor, away from the hurly-burly of Westminster politics. There, his idea was to “do a Trump,” and a Trump he did. He took the side of the so-called neglected Northerners against the Establishment. Of course, these are people who habitually rail against Trump but vocally emulate him.
Anyhow, Burnham the Wooden now replaces Starmer, the slightly more wooden.
It is hard not to be wooden in British politics these days. Leaders are condemned to a straitjacket, and they have to watch every gesture and utterance lest they come off as politically incorrect. The country is aching for good leadership, but nobody is anywhere near the arena. So they try all types of tactics, and this time, “doing a Trump” has worked for Burnham.
How long will the honeymoon last? In British politics, this is the wrong question. The proper one would be: how long will he last? As in, last per se in the job.
Probably not a very long time. Maybe he will not pass the lettuce test that a previous leader, Liz Truss, failed to pass.
Burnham, in his temerity, said recently that he will not be in hock to the markets, which was the undoing of Truss. (She watched the markets plummet because of a slew of hasty policy changes.)
No sooner had the rather wooden Burnham said he doesn’t care a whit for markets than the markets started reacting negatively, and soon the PM-to-be walked back his statement.
So much for charisma and personality. Some swear that Burnham is charismatic and exudes good vibes. Of course he does, compared to the wooden chalkboard that is Starmer.
But that is like saying one rock is human because it has more shine than another rock that is as dull as ditchwater by comparison. A rock is a rock is a rock even if disguised as, well, a succulent and edibly burnt ham.