FOR Andy Burnham it wasn’t meant to by like this. He started out the front-runner to be the next Labour leader. He looked the part, could seize the middle ground with appeal to both sides of the party, and would run away with the contest if he could see off the threat of Yvette Cooper.
At that time Liz Kendall was an over-the-top Blairite backed only by Tory papers like the Daily Mail, while Jeremy Corbyn was a bearded, comedic figure supported only by the Morning Star.
But now it’s all gone a bit pear-shaped. The party’s appetite for a Blairite candidate appears close to zero, Mr Burnham is locked in a death-embrace with Yvette Cooper to be at least the number two candidate (aka the stop Corbyn vote), and the mad lefty is running away with the party membership’s affections.
Mr Burnham was having none of this when he set out his case to The Herald last night. All his talk was focused on being the next Labour leader, and he said the Labour Party in Scotland had to become much more autonomous. Never again, he argued, should it be possible for the accusation of a branch office syndrome to be made. It was a very sound argument.
The problem is that every time the relationship within the Labour Party between Scotland and London is mentioned much the same thing is said. The problem about “almost autonomous” is similar to that of “almost pregnant.” You either are or you aren’t.
Mr Burnham’s politics are hard to discern. He would not deny being to the right of Jeremy Corbyn, nor to the left of Liz Kendall, but he seemed unwilling to go into detail about the spectrum in between. His sole pitch appeared to be that he was leadership material.
On Scotland Mr Burnham was fairly robust. Apart from the Labour Party here becoming more autonomous and never again being treated as a branch office, he said the SNP represented “an ugly brand of politics.”
This is a view, but it hardly approaches wider issues of concern to Labour members or voters North of the Border. Where does Mr Burnham stand on the broader austerity debate? As far as we got was that he was “not fazed by Corbyn.” People, explained Mr Burnham, “don’t want retail politics.”
Any of us could stand in front of a speeding train and insist we were not fazed, but it would not prevent us being mown down. Mr Burnham had considerable appeal among Scottish party members but his only Scottish parliamentary colleague, Ian Murray has just endorsed Ms Cooper. That is going to make it much harder for him to make inroads here when the ballot papers go out in two weeks’ time.
Scottish Labour voters will look for authenticity and some scope for the start of a fight-back against the SNP. Mr Burnham’s assertions of leadership and vague talk of party autonomy is unlikely to cut it, without the expression of much more specific policy pledges.
Mr Corbyn’s appeal would appear strongest in policy terms among Scots of an anti-austerity bent but if anyone is to make a convincing Opposition leader to fight Messrs Cameron and Osborne the question in Scotland will be whether it is Mr Burnham or Ms Cooper who can cut that figure.
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