Burnham has long said he would all but scrap the whipping system and he reiterated his intention at the end of May in an interview with the Times:
“Where it goes wrong is if a small group of people at the top use the whip as an instrument of threat. I think the government will be better served by the collective wisdom of the PLP, personally … the main thing I would come to is authenticity. Let your representatives be authentic representatives of their places. Don’t punish them for taking a position that actually connects with people they are serving. Don’t send them into TV studios with lines to take on everything.”
Good luck to Labour MPs – whom Burnham does not even know – being sent on broadcast without any lines. Nevertheless it was not always so. Guido has uncovered a letter Burnham wrote in his SpAdding days in 1998 to the Guardian:
“Hugo Young says Labour’s moves to strengthen discipline amongst MPs are evidence of “democratic sickness” (Comment, May 28).
He couldn’t be more wrong. Steps to make MPs stick to the script on which they were elected strengthen democracy by ensuring voters get what they voted for. People do not vote for individuals and all their eccentricities. They vote for the policies of the party which the candidate purports to represent. Only journalists bemoan the lack of “independent thinkers” in Parliament. It is an MP’s job to honour pledges given to the electorate not entertain the lobby.”
Which is it? Another Burnham U-turn…
Speaking at his speech on how to achieve “progressive capitalism” Wes Streeting fired a dig and Andy Burnham:
“Bond markets are not bond villains and fiscal rules matter.”