Media scrutiny of Burnham just hit a new low

Andy Burnham is set to become the UK prime minister despite us having no idea how he intends to administer us. Given this, every journalist who gets within spitting distance should be demanding to know what the plan is. Instead, we’re getting sh*te like this:

I asked in our video on #PMQs what Andy Burnham might have thought of being called ‘a pair of eyelashes & a black t-shirt’. We have our answer @IzzyLosseff https://t.co/rWcTm9meIF

— Beth Rigby (@BethRigby) June 24, 2026

We are not a serious country

For clarity’s sake, the above video features a coquettish Burnham saying:

It’s dark blue, actually

So that’s one mystery solved.

It’s not a black t-shirt; it’s a dark blue one – very cute.

How does he plan to run the government, you ask?

Dunno – ‘something, something Manchesterism‘ I think?

For examples of Burnham failing to provide answers, he has:

• Spoken about wealth taxes, but not committed to any particular plan.
• Gone endlessly back and forth on whether he does/doesn’t support Labour’s Reform-lite immigration policies.
• Refused to take a stance on Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
• Abandoned trans people.
• Refused to commit to renationalising key utilities and industries despite acknowledging the problems caused by privatising them.

Rigby isn’t the only big journalist getting excited:

The probable next PM’s comms style is gonna be quite different from what we’re used to… https://t.co/kFO5suvlvh

— Pippa Crerar (@PippaCrerar) June 24, 2026

While it’s not the case that Burnham is facing zero questions, he is providing zero answers – certainly not concrete ones, anyway. As such, the questions need to get louder and more insistent until he comes clean. Doorstep the guy if needs be. Ensure he never has a moment’s peace. They certainly managed that with Jeremy Corbyn, and his party wasn’t even in government!

I’d nearly forgotten, but they literally continued doorstepping Corbyn even after he stepped down as Labour leader. The following was because he highlighted documents which showed the government planned to work with US health companies to gut the NHS:

Jeremy Corbyn refuses to answer questions about Russian involvement in last year's general election.

Leaked government documents highlighted by Mr Corbyn during the campaign were almost certainly “amplified” online by Russia, the UK Government has said https://t.co/aZBxub1VzE pic.twitter.com/2cOuLC3JbU

— ITVPolitics (@ITVNewsPolitics) July 16, 2020

Don’t let these Oxbridge c*nts tell you they don’t know what scrutiny looks like!

Instead of the above, we’re getting frivolous sartorial guff:

I couldn’t agree more. I also find this reel slightly creepy. He’s going to be Prime Minsiter not auditioning for Corrie.

— Susan Dalgety (@DalgetySusan) June 25, 2026

And frivolous travel guff:

The King of the North arrives in London. Sky News are now doing a live broadcast of Andy Burnham arriving in London – featuring the train he is on arriving at Euston. Not exactly BAFTA winning broadcasting. pic.twitter.com/3oDtxeOd40

— James Melville 🚜 (@JamesMelville) June 22, 2026

No wonder my man is smiling:

🚨 PICTURED: Andy Burnham takes a selfie with Labour MPs pic.twitter.com/BbiHgIJwTm

— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) June 22, 2026

Burnham, this usually doesn’t end well

Burnham has good reason to avoid scrutiny; what little he has faced hasn’t played well for him:

🚨NEW: Andy Burnham's unfavourability has risen by 9% since the Makerfield by-election announcement.

The by-election saw Burnham receive minimal scrutiny. I assume that will now change and any of that goodwill he has will soon collapse, much like it did with Starmer after the… pic.twitter.com/X1LV1r0Vr8

— The Mercian (@TheMercianNews) June 24, 2026

The failure to scrutinise politicians rarely ends well. As Michael Crick wrote in June 2024:

In two to three years time, when Starmer and his government are no doubt deeply unpopular, I hope we in the media will ask ourselves: “Why were we so supine during the long 2024 election; why didn’t we hold Labour properly to account while we could, and ask more probing questions, and explore their records, rather than give them such an easy ride?”.

Crick was right to think things would go wrong for Starmer; he was wrong to hope British journalists might care to learn anything.

Featured image via the Canary