Steerpike

With weeks to go until he becomes a Labour Prime Minister almost no one voted for, Andy Burnham has been busy answering lots of questions. Not from the press, of course. Apart from a sit-down with Andrew Marr last night, the MP for Makerfield has been avoiding journalists like the plague. He has, however, taken to social media to answer queries from the public. Specifically, this evening, he has chosen Reddit: a platform where only the most toe-curling softball questions can be cherry-picked by his team. Enter Kemi Badenoch, who has been having none of his scrutiny-dodging. The Tory leader’s team quickly created a Reddit account so she could join in the fun too. Under Burnham’s post inviting users to ‘ask me anything’, Badenoch responded: Hi Andy, Kemi here.

The weather is glorious, England have soared through to the World Cup round of 16 and one Sir Keir Starmer has just weeks left as Prime Minister. So where better to celebrate – or commiserate, if you are so inclined – than at The Spectator’s annual summer party? The jamboree remains the most sought-after social ticket of the Westminster summer season, bringing together the most senior politicians, journalists and political aides, alongside the crème de la crème of the arts and media world. From Kemi Badenoch to Morgan McSweeney, The Spectator garden is filled with notable faces. Mr S noted strong contingents representing the Tories, Labour and Reform.

https://twitter.com/Conservatives/status/2072263303200440548 Like it or not, in this day and age, success in politics requires a strong presence on social media. A sizeable following, paired with witty and authentic content, can genuinely shift popularity ratings and boost an MP’s prominence, regardless of party. Sir Keir Starmer’s excruciatingly cringeworthy and try-hard social media output did him no favours. But the slick digital operations around Nigel Farage, Rupert Lowe and, yes, even Andy Burnham have helped increase their exposure and win them supporters. While many will no doubt hanker after the days when talent, ideas and acumen determined political popularity, one upside of the social media game is that it has produced some very creative spoof content.

With Sir Keir Starmer straggling on as PMINO – Prime Minister in Name Only – ministers have truly gone feral. A vacuum of leadership at the very top of government appears to have hurled that old constitutional convention of ministerial collective responsibility out of the window and into the nearest skip fire. The latest example? A member of the government complaining that the Defence Investment Plan is impinging on infrastructure important to his constituents in Lincoln. While Hamish Falconer is the Foreign Office minister responsible for the Middle East, he seems rather more concerned by highways than Hezbollah and Hamas. Responding to the DIP today, Falconer fumed: I am disappointed by the uncertainty today about the A46 Newark Bypass widening scheme.

https://twitter.com/reformparty_uk/status/2071539860947562755 With the so-called ‘King of the North’ vacating his mayoral throne for Downing Street, the race to find his replacement is beginning to warm up. Reform may have suffered a fairly bruising blow in Makerfield, but Nigel Farage is not yet ready to retreat from the north-west. Today he unveiled the party’s candidate for the Manchester mayoralty: Sian Astley. A graduate of Manchester University, Astley runs a design and property business in Fallowfield, where she lives. A regular telly pundit, she offers her expertise on renovations, interior design, project management and landlord issues. She is also Reform leader on Manchester City Council, having taken her seat from Labour – which had held it for 50 years.

Labour’s never-ending psychodrama took yet another magnificent twist today. It looks as if Sir Keir Starmer won’t be alone in making an early exit from government. Efforts are under way to boot Mike Tapp out as soon as possible too. Shabana Mahmood today personally asked the Prime Minister to sack the minister for migration and citizenship after he wrote an unauthorised article in the Times. The piece in question called for care workers to be exempted from the upcoming migration reforms that have left Labour backbenchers up in arms. In his op-ed, Tapp insisted it was his ‘strong belief’ carers should be spared the extension of the wait for Indefinite Leave to Remain from five to ten years. The Home Secretary wasn’t told about the article.

With just weeks until he is set to waltz into No. 10, Andy Burnham has been quick out of the blocks, meeting contenders for his future Cabinet. The frontrunners to replace Rachel Reeves are an already well-known trio: Ed Miliband (God forbid), Wes Streeting and Shabana Mahmood. Louise Haigh and Angela Rayner are set to make comebacks to the top table and, of course, James Purnell is expected to be named chief of staff. Now Mr S can reveal that an unexpected name has been thrown into the mix. Dr Zubir Ahmed has been in talks with Burnham’s team about the possibility of taking up the role of Health Secretary. https://www.youtube.com/watch?

https://twitter.com/PolitlcsUK/status/2069742711448432658 Kemi Badenoch’s PMQs drive-by today rattled Cabinet ministers so much that they carried on squabbling after the curtain had fallen. The Tory leader took absolutely no prisoners as she used the weekly Commons clash to lay into not just Sir Keir Starmer, but those close – and formerly close – to him too. When it came to Bridget Phillipson, the Conservative leader was masterfully brutal. She blasted: Yesterday a poll found that zero per cent of teachers think the Education Secretary is doing a good job, zero per cent. She taxed private schools to pay for more teachers but the number of teachers that has gone down. It turns out appointing a spiteful class warrior as Education Secretary was a disaster.

https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/2069053254546153758 Andy Burnham has officially been sworn in as an MP and is now very busy doing the rounds in the Commons, greeting his legions of leftie admirers. As he entered the chamber this afternoon, Burnham was met with heckles including ‘Rome is saved’ and ‘he’s not the messiah’ – to which he responded: ‘Naughty boy’. From there, it was straight on to Westminster Hall for a selfie with fellow MPs. While Rachel Reeves was conspicuously absent from Downing Street during Sir Keir Starmer’s resignation, the busy Chancellor did manage to find time to join the Makerfield Messiah for a family photo in Parliament.

It's all kicking off in Makerfield, where Andy Burnham has romped to victory in the by-election. Burnham, Labour’s newest MP – and the PM-in-waiting – was graceful enough to shake the hand of his Reform opponent Robert Kenyon after the result was announced in the early hours. But elsewhere at the count in Wigan, there was no love lost between Reform and Labour types. Reform’s Sarah Pochin and Labour peer Baroness Thangam Debbonaire clashed during a testy interview live on Sky News. Debbonaire attempted to take Pochin to task over a video the Reform MP had posted about domestic abuse during the World Cup.

For the sake of women’s safety we need England to keep winning 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 pic.twitter.com/Art8B5gzaf— Sarah Pochin MP (@SarahForRuncorn) June 18, 2026 For most England fans watching the World Cup game against Croatia last night, it was the score which was at the forefront of their minds. Not so though for Reform MP Sarah Pochin, who had a unique take on England’s win. In a bizarre social media clip posted on X, she said that ‘on the occasions that England lose their football matches, the incidences of domestic violence go through the roof. So, boys, keep on winning.’ In response to the post, Labour’s education minister, Bridget Phillipson wrote: ‘Men should not beat up women. Full stop. No excuses.

Violence, shooting and driving fast cars are not usually the first things that spring to mind when Whitehall talks about the ‘lived experience’ of the British public. Yet Policy Lab, an ‘experimental’ cross-government unit based at the Department for Education, appears to think otherwise. It has been very busy encouraging our esteemed civil servants to spend time at work playing Grand Theft Auto (GTA), an 18-rated video game, to learn about the public's 'hopes and dreams'. Expectations of Whitehall’s pen-pushers are rarely high. But the so-called Policy Lab takes civil service grifting to a new level. The unit actually pays officials to ‘spend time with participants in videogames they played regularly’ to ‘experience the world’.