There was as much doubt about Labour’s leadership nominations as there was at the Accession Council in September 2022. Like the Privy Counsellors before them, Labour MPs have declared Andy Burnham leader with ‘one voice and consent of tongue and heart’. Although he won’t officially be declared Labour’s new leader until July 17, by securing the support of 332 Labour MPs out of 403 on the first day, the outcome is not in doubt. There was, in the end, no contest, just a coronation.
On the face of it, a coronation is good news for an incoming leader. Instead of having to dominate a field of rivals, they take on the top job with nobody strong enough to stand against them. That Burnham finds himself in such a position having only just re-entered Parliament is an unprecedented achievement.
But in several respects, Burnham’s singular ascent is an echo of the past – especially the Conservatives’ old way of choosing leaders. While Labour has always had some form of internal election, Tory leaders prior to 1965 simply ‘emerged’. Either by occupying an unassailable position near the top of the party, or by being judged the best available leader by party grandees, a single candidate for leader would be identified. This practice had its critics – including one MP who alleged it was ‘more appropriate for the enstoolment of an African tribal chief’ – but it generally got the job done. And quickly.
A look at the most recent leaders to emerge unchallenged suggests it’s unlikely to be all roses for Burnham
While it might feel that we’re in a somewhat farcical limbo right now, with Keir Starmer squatting in Number 10 as his authority ebbs away, this transfer of power will still be relatively swift compared to the alternative. If somebody else had been nominated, Burnham and his rival would have spent weeks tearing chunks out of each other before the selectorate of party members and affiliates decided between them. As the Tories found time and again, it is a guaranteed way to tarnish a party’s reputation. Labour will be glad to avoid a summer of division.
So much for the positives, what about the downsides of coronation? A look at the most recent leaders to emerge unchallenged suggests it’s unlikely to be all roses for Burnham. The last person to do so in Labour was Gordon Brown; the last Conservative was Rishi Sunak. Both were major figures within their parties with many admired qualities, but neither enjoyed a happy premiership. Worse still, neither went on to win the next election.
Alongside the absence of debate comes the alleged lack of a real mandate from the party. This charge is hardly damning – what fault is it of Burnham’s if nobody chooses to stand against him? – but future critics are likely to wield it nonetheless. In recent history, both Sunak and Theresa May (who had to fight for the leadership among MPs but was spared a members’ ballot in 2016) were accused of lacking the authority enjoyed by leaders who had triumphed in more comprehensive leadership contests.
Labour MPs are hoping Burnham can break that pattern and seem to accept that a radical change of direction is needed if they are to have any chance of holding their seats. Which makes it all the more remarkable that, as there will be no leadership contest, there will be no meaningful debate about what that change should look like. The nebulous set of policies associated with Burnham will, in practice, simply be accepted as Labour policy.
On balance, Burnham’s coronation is good news both for him and for his party. But it’s far from unalloyed. And the benchmark for success will be the same as for any other leader: giving his party a positive and coherent vision, delivering it and improving their position in the polls. His current dominance within the party can help to do that, but it can’t guarantee it.
At a few minutes past six on Friday morning, in a leisure centre on the Essex coast, the returning officer reached the bottom of a ballot paper roughly a metre long and announced a number that deserves more attention than it is likely to receive. Nigel Farage, 22,239 votes. The commentary had settled into its […]
The problem for bright-eyed and bushy-tailed new prime ministers who take over part-way through a Parliament is they start with a king-sized chip on their shoulders. They walk through Downing Street’s door knowing they aren’t the one who won the election mandate they’re inheriting, and needing to defuse whichever political crisis overwhelmed their predecessor too. […]
This weekend the Telegraph ran a story with the striking headline ‘Burnham told to trade nuclear umbrella for access to single market’. The idea is the brainchild of Nick Boles, the former Conservative MP who quit the party in 2019 over Brexit, switched his allegiance to Labour and helped to advise Keir Starmer on the […]
