Burnham’s clearest signal yet that tax hikes are coming:
“I think firstly, you have to do more with what you’ve got. But I think Louise indicated, some of what we’d want to do in the fullest sense will require difficult decisions. But we will be honest with people about those, we will put them before the country at the right time, and we will hopefully proceed with people’s consent…”
Spending like a sailor. Inevitable…
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.”