Andy Burnham has said he will continue donating 15% of his salary to local efforts, which he did for nine years as Mayor of Greater Manchester. He said he did so “to tackle homelessness” in Manchester…
Now he says he will this time be “donating to worthy local causes at the heart of our communities.” But only his MP’s salary will go to them…
An MP makes a measly £98,599 compared to the mayoral salary of £118,267. That means communities will receive only £14,789.85 from Andy compared to £17,740.05 they got before – a reduction of almost £3,000. He could announce that he would be donating 15% of his prime ministerial salary too – which would be an uplift…
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.”