MAIL ON SUNDAY COMMENT: The voters demand an election, Mr Burnham – so let them have one

Unseen hands have dragged Andy Burnham to the doorstep of Downing Street, where he is now poised for power. Unseen hands destroyed his forerunner Sir Keir Starmer; he himself must still be wondering what exactly hit him and who exactly.

Mr Burnham says it was not his doing to sack Sir Keir, so we should accept that. Indeed, judging by Sir Keir’s farewell, Labor got rid of him simply because they loved him so much and thought he was great. How much electricity was needed to pump all the insincerity out of the Palace of Westminster after the ceremony was over?

No doubt Net Zero enthusiast Ed Miliband will be checking this out. Has there ever been such a fortuitous, secretive, slippery and inexplicable transfer of power in modern Britain?

North Korea’s political process (you have to be called Kim to succeed) is clearer than Mr. Burnham’s unexamined miraculous rise.

The King must have been quite surprised to learn that his current Prime Minister had suddenly fallen, and tomorrow he will have to heed the King of the North’s grand request and have his hands kissed.

The ruler must be feeling a little used. Mr Burnham paid genuine tribute to the enduring spirit of the pre-Blair Labor Party at the Trades Union Congress headquarters on Friday. How meaningful it was that Neil Kinnock, whom voters were so afraid to install in Downing Street in 1992, was there as the guest of honor to bless the business. Shall we now discover what a Kinnock government would be like? If so, let the striving classes worry and tremble.

While voters are understandably concerned that passage will mean higher taxes, they will overwhelmingly prefer lower spending, as The Mail on Sunday’s Find Out Now poll shows. They see little to hope for in the possible choices Mr. Burnham could make as Chancellor, and why should they? Is there anyone in the front row of the Labor Party who understands economics and also recognizes that national spending and borrowing are out of control? It doesn’t look like that.

No wonder the same poll shows increasing support for the General Election. People are not ready to accept that a local poll in Makerfield and a comradely coronation in the TUC are enough to give Mr Burnham the right to rule Britain.

In most cases, voters will have serious regrets about having brought Labor to power two years ago, wasting their votes on Reform which never stood a chance of winning.

A lot of the emotional fog has cleared since that contest. The Reformation, after a brief period of seemingly good fortune, began to collapse, as do things with weak foundations.

Nigel Farage looks tired and embarrassed. But Kemi Badenoch’s Conservative Party is showing signs of real recovery and a serious desire to return to office and do sensible things that Andy Burnham would not do.

A real election with proper debate, serious questioning of candidates, clear manifestos and a real vote is sorely needed. Let’s get one.