'Andy Burnham must show his plan to fix the country before earning keys to Downing Street'

'Andy Burnham must show his plan to fix the country before earning keys to Downing Street' 'Despite the goalposts being constantly moved, team Burnham smashed it with a decisive win and they should bask in that', broadcaster and peer Ayesha Hazarika writes Andy Burnham has achieved a rare thing. He’s injected some hope into British politics. His campaign was wholesome, energetic and optimistic. He looked comfortable in his own skin. And he reminded us that Reform winning is not inevitable. Yes they picked an absolute turnip in Robert Kenyon whose appearance on Question Time was like an episode of that old tv show 'Faking It' or reminded me of when that poor taxi driver ended up doing an interview on the BBC. But remember back at the start of the contest, many prominent commentators and figures within the Labour Party were doing a lot of teeth sucking saying “ooh…this is going to be VERY tough for Burnham to win here given how popular Reform is.” Then it was all “well… a narrow win won’t do if it’s Restore splitting the vote…” Despite the goalposts being constantly moved, team Burnham smashed it with a decisive win and they should bask in that this weekend. He humbled Reform and this time, they can’t even blame immigrants or Muslims. And that’s why this win is so important. In Keir Starmer’s own words, the one of the biggest threats this county faces is a Reform led government. He’s spot on to speak of dark forces stirring on the right of British politics, feasting on tragedy to sow division, racism and hate. That’s why the critical question is who can best beat Farage at the ballot box. And with genuine regret, that person is not the current Prime Minister. He achieved the historic feat of getting Labour into power for which so many are grateful. But no one man is bigger than the movement. Many of us said that when Jeremy Corbyn was leader. But this difficult chapter need not end in a political bloodbath. Starmer’s appeal was his noble maxim – country before party. If he agrees to step aside, he could get to craft his political legacy with dignity. As the guy who refreshingly didn’t let his personal ambition and anger cloud his judgement about what was fundamentally right. Ironically, he would probably be instantly lionised. There would be calls for him to have a big role and he still could – especially on foreign affairs. Could there be a different way of doing our politics? To be more inclusive and collaborative in the national interest. Not everything has to be a fight to the death if you fundamentally believe in the same cause. I get that we don’t want to be like the Tories, but nor do we want to do a Biden. Burnham still must show MPs and beyond his actual plan to fix the country and what would tangibly change before he earns the keys to No 10. But he is undeniably popular. He didn’t even get booed at the BRITs. In a brutal political climate, surely that counts for something? 'We must remember what Jo Cox stood for' The passage of time has not dimmed the horror of the murder of Jo Cox ten years ago. We all said never again, yet we saw the killing of Sir David Amess in 2021. And we now have a landscape where it’s routine for politicians to receive a constant barrage of the most depraved threats of death, rape & violence. How did we get here? I blame greedy social media companies and deeply irresponsible individuals with huge followings and wicked agendas. But we must remember what Jo stood for. Her mantra More In Common may feel wishful thinking in these frightening times but we must do all we can to keep her spirit alive. The antidote to the rampant hate online is to create connection and kinship in real life. 'We need more cadet activity in schools' Defence of the realm is a hot topic. But along with funding, we must have a national conversation about how we prepare our citizens some unthinkable, ugly scenarios. One idea could be to get more cadet activity in schools. We know students can learn a lot and it could help us as a country start to think about resilience. It’s not pretty, but surely it’s better to be prepared? 'Vaccinations saving young women from cervical cancer' Good news alert! For the first time ever, no women in their early 20s have died from cervical cancer in a five year period in England. It’s all thanks to 12-13 year girls getting vaccinated against the HPV virus. It shows how active public health interventions can really make a difference.