Andy Burnham has not answered a question from a journalist in two weeks. He has instead done an interview with Gary Lineker in which he refused to rule out a wealth tax:
“I’m going to obviously take my time to properly look at the state of things, particularly the state of finances. And I just said a moment ago, Gary, about bringing people together. You know, I don’t want to come in and sort of, if you like, create new divisions and pitch people one against another.
I’m not going rule things out right now. I do believe we need a greater sense of fairness and people feeling that things are being done in the right way and a fair way. But at the same time, you know, I don’t want to sort of be perceived as somebody who’s coming in with grudges and agendas and, you know, going to just immediately find or demonise one group or create a new way of dividing people.
So, you know, decisions to be taken in time, they’re going to be difficult. I’m not going to shy away from that. You know, we are going to have to work quite hard to make sure, you know, we can pay our way.
And at some point that might be having to ask for a little more. But, you know, those decisions are not for now. They’re for another day.”
Buckle up…
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.”