A Poisoned Chalice Is Passing to Burnham
Following the confirmation of Keir Starmer’s demise as Prime Minister, a whole mini-industry of political obituary writing is about to boom in Britain and internationally. Many capitalist commentators will wax lyrical about Starmer’s ‘sense of duty’, or his mediocre statesman qualities, and lament the poor fortune that led him to be chewed up and spat out in under two years. He is, after all, one of their own. And he will surely be rewarded with a very well-paid new job.
For socialists on the other hand, his resignation represents the fall of an enemy who will not be missed. Our starting point is not his career ambitions or ego, but the real situation of working-class people. For them, his role in history has been disastrous.
Through cuts to disability benefits, winter fuel allowances and more, Starmer did his best to further impoverish millions among our class in Britain, while billionaire profits boomed. His hands are permanently stained with the blood of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, for which he enthusiastically cheerleaded, and which his government is still complicit in arming and facilitating. Meanwhile, those brave enough to challenge this are being jailed.
This ‘Labour’ Prime Minister also led the most openly racist British government in living memory, with draconian new laws to persecute refugees. Starmer’s odious Enoch Powell-quoting “island of strangers” speech proudly proclaimed the nonsense that immigrants had done “incalculable damage” to the country. In doing so, he has left us with a country of racist pogroms, mass fascist demonstrations and a surging far-right.
Starmer’s Deceitful Rise to Power
His resignation speech was itself nauseating and infuriating. The narrative was the same one the establishment has trotted out time and again:
“I inherited a Labour Party that was politically, financially and morally bankrupt… We changed our party, ripping out the poison of antisemitism, restoring trust on the economy, defence and national security, and becoming a party that once again stood proudly with, not against, our national flag.”
This achievement led to a landslide victory in 2024, or so the story goes. The truth, of course, is that his landslide was a loveless one. He secured millions of votes less than Jeremy Corbyn and won a majority purely due to the quirks of the electoral system and the Tories’ collapse.
For the capitalist elite, killing Corbynism off was Starmer’s most important achievement, and the task to which he applied himself most energetically upon taking over Labour’s leadership. The story of his rise to power within the party is straight out of Game of Thrones, and was chronicled effectively in the excellent book, The Fraud by Paul Holden.
While Corbyn was still leader, Starmer played a leading role in sabotaging his leadership from within. He was, after all, the architect of the disastrous ‘second referendum’ Brexit policy which helped Boris Johnson win big in 2019.
Then, when Corbyn was forced to resign, Starmer was hand-picked by Labour’s establishment – fronted by now disgraced chum of Peter Mandelson, Morgan McSweeney – to reclaim the Labour party as a reliable tool for the billionaires. The plan was not to do so by openly advocating a return to neo-Blairism but quite literally the opposite: Starmer would simply pretend to be a socialist, offering ‘Corbynism with better comms’.
Having conned the Labour membership, the next stage of the plan was to carry out a right-wing counter-revolution. Starmer’s promises were ditched unceremoniously. After being politically sidelined, Corbyn was definitively shown the door. Starmer gloated that if members didn’t like it, they could leave, and hundreds of thousands did.
By 2024, the Tories were so toxic that Labour could have won an election led by Genghis Khan. Starmer’s campaign was simply based on not being the Tories. He promised as little as possible in the way of concrete change and hoped he would make it over the finish line, which he did.
A Government of Crisis From Day One
He then blew it. This was not mainly down to ‘bad messaging’, as the press would have us believe. The fundamental reason that Starmer quickly became the most unpopular PM ever was because of his policies.
The botched robotic delivery of Starmer, Reeves and co cannot be denied, of course. However the essence of their agenda was not determined by them personally, but rather the demands of declining and rotten British capitalism. By cutting the benefits bill for example, the billionaires want to address the indebtedness of the state – which is ultimately the result of the multiple bailouts their failing system has needed – by further punishing the poor instead of taxing their obscene wealth.
By backing Israeli state terror, successive British governments simply fulfil their role as loyal poodles of US imperialism, and seek to maintain the bloodsoaked balance of power in a region crucial to British fossil fuel corporations. It was indeed the Anglo-Persian Oil Company – now known as British Petroleum (BP), one of the top ten FTSE 100 companies – which began the process of Western imperialist looting of resources in the region.
The problem for Keir Starmer – who like every PM before him sought to loyally serve these interests – is that in the current period of deep capitalist crisis and after decades of austerity and failed imperialist war, these policies cannot easily be sold to working-class public opinion.
Once his agenda was made clear by the cuts to winter fuel allowances, the refusal to lift the deadly two-child benefit cap, the attempts to slash PIP benefits and enduring support for genocide, there was no going back. It was clear from early on that Starmer would soon be tossed aside.
Burnham’s Poisoned Chalice: The Same Crisis-Ridden British Capitalism
The exact process and timing of Andy Burnham’s takeover in number 10 is still unclear. There will either be a coronation or a quick election, with the former now appearing more likely following Wes Streeting’s backing of Burnham. But the outcome will be the same regardless.
The fact that not a single viable new leader could be found from among 402 Labour MPs is a striking illustration of British capitalism’s deep crisis. The establishment is so hated that only an ‘outsider’ can command any authority.
Burnham is uniquely popular precisely because he has kept a distance from parliament and the Labour government since leaving Westminster in 2017. Despite his history as a capitalist establishment politician with a record of support for privatisation and imperialist war, he has certainly reinvented himself successfully.
His clash with the Tory government during Covid clearly profiled him as a thorn in the side of the rotten Westminster elite, who moreover tapped into the deep groundswell of resentment caused by capitalism’s long-term project of managed decline of England’s north.
However, his days as an outsider are now coming to an end. And upon assuming power, he will soon discover that on his plate is the same flailing British capitalist crisis that led to Starmer’s downfall.
Even before his election as an MP in the Makerfield by-election, Burnham was being subjected to pressure from ‘the markets’ to commit to the same policies that made Starmer so hated. In response, he quickly pledged to honour the disastrous self-imposed ‘fiscal rules’ and to back Shabana Mahmood’s draconian migration crackdown.
However, it is clearly not the case that Burnham will project a regime of continuity with Starmer and Reeves. He knows that this would be disastrous. His promises of greater ‘public control’ over utilities are attractive to the vast majority of the population and he will certainly intend to announce some high-profile progressive measures in the first 100 days of his administration.
A certain honeymoon for the ‘king of the North’ in number 10 is all but guaranteed. His rise, and that of the so-called ‘soft left’ within the Labour hierarchy, will also undoubtedly be welcomed by the leadership of the major unions. This can temporarily thaw the increasingly strained relationship which has developed between the union bureaucracy and Labour HQ in recent years.
It can also present a major challenge for the Green Party, who can suffer amidst the idea that Burnham is more likely than Zack Polanski to successfully fend off the threat of a Reform government.
What is guaranteed however, is that Burnham will not implement anything close to the radical changes required to escape the quagmire of crisis which defines British life today.
To address the consequences of decades of misery, and begin to build a better future, there must be a fundamental overturning of the balance of power in society. The wealth of the billionaires must be seized and put to work to benefit the majority – to solve the housing crisis and repair broken services and infrastructure. Warfare must be defunded to fund welfare. The rights of migrants, trans people, Muslims and all communities must be defended and radically extended. All anti-trade union legislation must be repealed now.
To implement these desperately needed policies in the face of the ferocious resistance of the billionaire class, the socialist transformation of society is needed. The commanding heights of the economy must be taken into democratic public ownership, with no compensation for billionaires, to plan for a sustainable green transition and the rapid elimination of poverty and homelessness.
Organise
Trade unions, anti-war, anti-racist and all social movements should redouble our efforts – organising, protesting and striking to force concessions from a new Burnham administration, and resist any new anti-working-class policies. At the same time, the building of a real socialist opposition to Labour and the rising right, rooted in struggle and community organising, remains a burning necessity. Indeed, the squandering of the potential of Your Party to build such a force is a real factor in the situation which has allowed Burnham to emerge to partially fill the gaping vacuum that exists in British politics.
Regardless of who is in number 10, Socialist Alternative will continue to organise to build support for this perspective. If you agree, then join us!
