Andy Burnham’s leadership campaign is going the way of all flesh. According to
Left Foot Forward’s model, Burnham is set to come fourth behind Ed
Balls. A You Gov poll predicted a similarly poor showing for Burnham.
I’m surprised by this. Burnham is presentable against a field of gawky rivals. Also, after a faltering start, he has tuned a clear anti-establishment message, crafted to politicise the north
south divide and New Labour’s soulless metropolitanism. He reiterates it for today’s Independent, arguing that the party has been run for too long in
‘an elitist, London-centric and controlling way’ and that New Labour was ‘born of a distrust of its members.’ He added:
‘We still have a self-serving elite at the top of our party who put themselves and their own interests before those of the party and the members who put them into Parliament.
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