Arrogant Andy is about to walk into Number 10 with no scrutiny | Politics | News
In just six days Andy Burnham will become Prime Minister. He became an MP less than a month ago, although he had previously been in the House of Commons and Cabinet a decade ago.
But since his dramatic comeback when he won last month’s Makerfield by-election, he has avoided direct scrutiny, giving speeches without asking questions, producing social media videos, writing articles and holding closed-door meetings with Labor MPs. Behind the scenes, he is installing a new administration whose personnel, or at least their portfolios, remain a secret.
Parliament goes into summer recess on Thursday, meaning Burnham will not face any democratic responsibilities until MPs return in September.
Now Labor has rejected Conservative demands for a vote to force him to come to Parliament to answer questions when he becomes Prime Minister on Monday.
Kemi Badenoch described the move as “unprecedented” and accused Labor of being “cowardly”.
“They know the honeymoon will be over the moment he has to tell us his plans,” he raged.
But the so-called ‘King in the North’ will appear in Parliament on Tuesday evening and talk about the government’s new Hillsborough Bill, which will clear the House of Commons.
Burnham has already won the approval of more Labor MPs than are needed to secure a majority in the House of Representatives.
He will become party leader on Friday. His coup will be complete when he moves to No. 10 on Monday.
So why does he evade scrutiny, what does he have to hide?
The former Blair-era MP has many questions to answer; particularly about how he plans to manage the economy, whether he is planning a tax blitz, how he will increase defense spending and what this impassioned remainder actually wants to do with our relationship with the EU.
The British public deserves to know the answers to these and many other questions about what Burnham has in store for the country.
It’s the least he could do, especially since no one voted for him to be Prime Minister.
