Labour whips have cancelled the Tories’ Opposition Day, which would have included a vote to force Andy Burnham to face the House of Commons for at least a day before recess. Running from scrutiny…
As it currently stands Thursday will be recess day for the long summer break and MPs won’t return to the Commons until 1 September. Labour whips have switched proceedings for opposition day and assigned some random government business. This is exceedingly rare – is Andy scared?
Tom Baldwin, author of Starmer’s hagiography, spoke to Times Radio:
Tom Baldwin: “I think he’d like to do something. He’s very dutiful and driven by service. That’s why he came into politics. I think that’s characterised his time as prime minister. He hasn’t always sought popularity or been good at being popular. But I think he has some of the necessary qualities that we actually do want in a prime minister. That resilience, that relentlessness, that ability to carry the weight and the job really does weigh very heavily on people and he carries that weight very, very well.”
Jo Coburn: “NATO Secretary-General?”
Tom Baldwin: “I think that’s something that he would be interested in. I think it probably requires Andy Burnham’s government to support him in that and these are some of the questions which Andy Burnham has to resolve quite quickly.”