Andy Burnham promised MPs that his premiership would be characterised by “problem-solving over point-scoring”.
That commitment lasted until Kemi Badenoch reminded him that he had been prime minister for only 43 days.
The Conservative leader used Burnham’s first major Commons appearance since entering Downing Street to question whether his experience running Greater Manchester had prepared him to lead the country.
🚨 WATCH: Kemi Badenoch mocks Andy Burnham
"He has been in office for 43 days, during which I've learnt how he puts milk in tea, what he thinks about pork scratchings, but not the pleasure of asking him questions. So we're all grateful he has finally found time to answer some" pic.twitter.com/ojhw5ib4yT
Labour MPs erupted as Burnham returned to his argument that Britain needed cooperation rather than the usual exchanges of political attacks.
It may not have been entirely consistent with his promise to avoid point-scoring, but it was undeniably an effective point.
Badenoch tells Burnham to take the job seriously
The exchange came during Burnham’s first Commons statement as prime minister and his first appearance at the government despatch box in 16 years.
Badenoch said his initial 43 days in office had been dominated by announcements that had not received sufficient scrutiny from Parliament.
She warned that leading the country would be different from serving as mayor of Greater Manchester and told Burnham that it was time to take the job seriously.
The Conservative leader also challenged Burnham’s criticism of the economic model followed by successive governments since the 1980s.
Burnham had argued that deindustrialisation, excessive centralisation and the privatisation of essential services had weakened the economy. He said Brexit had compounded those problems and helped usher in a “decade of low growth”.
Badenoch accused him of blaming Margaret Thatcher for the country’s current problems, saying:
“He is living in the past, and he wants to take us back to the 1970s.”
Burnham’s answer was to reach for a considerably more recent Conservative prime minister.
Why the Liz Truss line still works
Truss entered Downing Street on 6 September 2022 and left office on 25 October, making her the shortest-serving prime minister in British history.
Her government lasted 49 days.
The central event of her premiership was the mini-Budget delivered by Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng on 23 September 2022.
It contained tax cuts that would eventually have reduced Treasury revenues by approximately £45 billion a year, according to the House of Commons Library. The measures were announced without an accompanying forecast from the Office for Budget Responsibility.
Financial markets reacted badly. Sterling fell sharply, government borrowing costs rose and mortgage providers withdrew products while they attempted to reprice loans.
Five days after the announcement, the Bank of England began making emergency purchases of long-dated government bonds after identifying a material risk to financial stability.
Kwarteng was dismissed and most of the mini-Budget was abandoned. Truss announced her resignation less than two weeks later.
The episode has remained politically useful to Labour because it allows the party to answer Conservative attacks on borrowing and economic competence with a reference voters already recognise.
Burnham has particular reason to use it. Truss recently predicted that his government would run out of money and trigger another financial crisis, an intervention The Daily Britain covered in July.
Badenoch’s reshuffle reopened the argument
Badenoch’s decision to appoint Andrew Griffith as shadow chancellor has made it more difficult for the Conservatives to put the Truss period behind them.
Griffith served as Financial Secretary to the Treasury during the Truss government and publicly defended its economic programme.
Labour Party chair Bridget Phillipson described him as a “key architect” of the mini-Budget following his promotion. Griffith’s precise role in designing the measures has been disputed, but his ministerial position and support for the programme leave Labour with an obvious line of attack.
The appointment came as part of a wider Conservative reshuffle intended to strengthen Badenoch’s team before it confronts the Burnham government.
Griffith replaced Mel Stride as shadow chancellor, while Tom Tugendhat took over from Priti Patel as shadow foreign secretary. Alex Burghart was appointed deputy Conservative leader.
The changes give Badenoch a refreshed frontbench, but they also return figures associated with the Truss administration to prominent positions.
Burnham still faces questions about the cost
The laughter Burnham generated did not answer Badenoch’s underlying question about how his policies will be funded.
During his statement, the prime minister argued that stronger public control of water, energy and transport would reduce household costs and support economic growth.
The government has already announced that VAT will be removed from domestic electricity bills from October. It has promised to restore a £2 cap on single bus fares outside London and reduce business rates for pubs and clubs.
Burnham also wants to expand devolution, establish a national care service and intervene more directly in failing utilities.
Long-term government borrowing costs have risen amid a wider international bond sell-off, reducing the amount of financial room available to Chancellor John Healey.
The Conservatives will continue pressing Burnham to explain how his spending plans fit within Labour’s fiscal rules. A joke about Truss cannot replace those answers, even if it makes the person asking the question considerably less comfortable.
The first of many Commons clashes
Burnham returned to Westminster in June after winning the Makerfield by-election. He replaced Keir Starmer as Labour leader and became prime minister on 20 July.
Because Parliament entered its summer recess shortly afterwards, MPs had been unable to question him in the Commons about the policies announced during his first weeks in office.
Tuesday’s statement gave Badenoch her first opportunity to challenge him directly. Their first full encounter at Prime Minister’s Questions will follow on Wednesday.
Badenoch wants to portray Burnham as an inexperienced prime minister making expensive promises. Burnham’s response will be to present the Conservatives as the party that lost economic credibility under Truss and has yet to regain it.
His first Commons comeback showed exactly how he intends to make that argument.
2 responses to “Andy Burnham had a brutal Liz Truss comeback after Kemi Badenoch mocked his 43 days in office”
Mark Nolan
The Tories have got no comeback for their financial mismanagement and 14 years of trough hogging.
Joe Connor is a UK-based reporter specialising in politics, public policy, and national affairs. He has previously contributed to publications including The London Economic (JOE Media Group) and Spotted News.
At The Daily Britain, he covers Westminster politics, elections, and breaking political developments, alongside in-depth analysis of policy decisions and their real-world impact.
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