Answering a question from Sky News’ Sam Coates, Andy Burnham said:
“I am of the view that that debate – and I don’t say that there shouldn’t be debate at some point about those issues – personally I think there’s something that needs to happen first, and that’s the fixing of the funding of palliative care and social care. I think it is very challenging to introduce that wider debate in the context of people not receiving that care and having the peace of mind about care, and that’s the position that I will stick to.”
That’s a delay of some years if Burnham is insistent on it…
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.”