How to stop Burnham

Added: 2026-05-17

[00:00:00]The arrogance of power. What is going on in Makerfield to try and get Andy Burnham into parliament seems to me to be treating voters with utter contempt.

[00:00:12]Josh Simons won on the basis that he could serve for a full parliament.

[00:00:16]There's no reason he should stand down.

[00:00:18]He's not particularly old. Indeed, he's really rather young. He hasn't got some change of career that is pressing upon him. He hasn't been very successful in his ministerial career and had to resign. But there is no pressing reason for him to go other than as if it were some rotten burough. He thinks he can pass his constituency to his mate who he wants to become prime minister. It'd be interesting if in the next few months Josh Simons gets a periage. If he were to get that, we would all know what had gone on. We will watch this space. But parliamentary constituencies aren't like that. They're not some toy, some bble, some ornament to be passed from one socialist to another, given to your friend because it's convenient for his career progression. They are a trust from the voters. They are a trust from the 70,000 electors who have asked you to have that enormous honor of representing them in parliament for a parliament. It is a lease hold, not a freehold. Once you get to next election, they have no obligation to vote for you again. But it is an enormous honor to hold that trust from your fellow citizens. It is not a piece of property to be traded. So I think this whole bi-election process is treating the Mackerfield voters contemptuously and that makes it a great opportunity to show the Labour Party, the blob, the uni party, whatever you wish to call it, those who think they have a right to rule, the grown-ups as they called themselves, to give them a nasty surprise. But this requires the right to unite or certainly it would help. And this seems to be the golden opportunity for the right to unite because it's not just one bi-election going on but two.

[00:02:19]There's also a bi-election going on in Abedine South. Abedine South has been vacated because its MP was elected to the Scottish Parliament and you can't hold seats in both anymore. You used to be able to but you can't. So the incumbent has had to stand down, take the Chilton hundreds and there will be a bi-election. Now in Abene South, the favorites to win other than the S SNP are the Conservatives.

[00:02:48]In Mackerfield, of course, the favorites to win are Labor. So what does this mean? Well, I think my party, the Conservative Party, and reform should work together in the national interest.

[00:03:04]And what is this national interest?

[00:03:06]Well, in Scotland, it's absolutely obvious. We never want separatists to win. We don't want people who want to break up our country to win. And if a conservative and unionist party could take Abedine South, that would be a tremendous Phillip for unionism. It would also be a great boost for a sensible economic policy because both the Conservative Party and reform are in favor of extracting oil from the North Sea and ensuring we get the revenues that come from that. Economic and energy policy too because all economies at all time are dependent upon cheap energy. So Adabi Abodine South would be a great victory for unionism if it could be taken from the separatists. There's an opportunity to do it. The S SNP for all its corruption scandals is elected but not popular in Scotland. I know that sounds an oxymoron, but the scandals have hurt the reputation of the SMP. All that went on with Nicholas Sturgeon and all the complications around indeed the um late Alex Salmon, all that went on about that famous camper van that you will remember. All of that has damaged the reputation of the SMP in voters's minds. Has made them think that the SMP is a dubious and disreputable organization. Even if at the last local elections in Scotland they wanted to vote um against Labor as much as anything else, their traditional party. So this is an opportunity to show the SMP the reality of its unpopularity and to win one for the union. something both the Conservative Party and reform support.

[00:04:54]They are both unionist parties and they both support Abodine as a town, as a city of course in its economy which is so dependent on oil and on energy. So that's part one of the deal. Part two of the deal is perhaps the more high-profile one is Makerfield. Now, Makerfield, as I've said, is being treated with contempt by an arrogant overlord who thinks that it can be passed around like the port after dinner. Going to the left, I suppose, is um opposite in this circumstance.

[00:05:28]But Andy Burnham is a menace. He is a left-wing figure who wants to rejoin the European Union, wants to increase spending but without paying for it, won't cut the welfare budget and supported Angela Raina when she opposed um Shabbana Mammud's proposals, modest proposals for reform of the immigration laws. So you've got somebody on the left of the party who must be so opposed to what his voters think as potential voters think because Makerfield 65% voted leave and if 65% voted leave they're unlikely to oppose sensible reforms to immigration policy. So he treats voters as sort of surfs who can just be expected to support him because he's such a grand pangandrum. And it would be much better if they didn't support him. It would be better politically because if he were to win that bi-election, he zooms in as leader of the Labour party. He then becomes very difficult to oppose because he's seen to have won some popular support even if that support is in a safe labor area because reforms biting at the heels of Labor in Mackerfield. It looks as if he would have done well. So that would propel him into office, but it would propel into office somebody who holds views that are totally antithetic to those of the people, the good people of McAfee. And yet it is a seat where if the right divides, it makes it easier for him to win. So I would like to see a foretaste of what we could do at a general election, a coming together of the two parties to work together overwhelmingly in the national interest.

[00:07:14]This of course involves party politics, but what a prize to promote unionism in Scotland. And what a prize to stop a hardleft figure becoming the prime minister of this country. This is such an opportunity. We're so close to being able to do it. It may happen anyway. The voters may do it for us. The voters may recognize the advantages of tactical voting. But wouldn't it be more sensible for the two leaders, for Kem Benedok and Nigel Farage to see there is an opportunity to work together to show that politicians can come together and can do things that are overwhelmingly to the benefit of the country at large.

[00:07:57]Andy Bernham as prime minister would not succeed. It would be worse than Starmmer. I've quoted before Rahab to Solomon. You will remember the whips and scorpions line. My father has scourged you with whips and I shall scourge you with scorpions. Burnham will be scorpions to stars whips will not be beneficial for the nation. And any election where the SMP can be defeated.

[00:08:21]Those who wish to destroy our nation can be defeated is a good thing. Both sides win, my party and reform. What could be better than that? that it could be the real resurgence of small C conservatism across the whole country. Thank you very much for watching and thank you very much to Nick Gutridge for bringing this to my attention.