We have a Prime Minister and a Government trying to find their feet at precisely the moment when Britain needs real leadership.
Andy Burnham became Prime Minister on July 20, almost 10 weeks ago. Yet he’s only actually done the job of Prime Minister for two weeks. The two weeks when he was in Parliament, actually governing the country, facing me in the House of Commons and being properly scrutinised by MPs.
In those two weeks, he nodded towards another Scottish independence vote, committed to massive spending increases his office later backed out of, and was finally honest that he believes spending on benefits is more important than spending on defence.
They were a bad two weeks.
The rest of the time, Burnham and his Government have been strangely absent.
Important decisions have been deferred, ministers have been barely visible. “Wait for Labour conference,” we’re told. “Wait for the Budget.” Wait… to discover what this Government actually believes.
The truth is, as I warned when he was whisked into 10 Downing Street a few weeks after winning a by-election, Andy Burnham has no idea what he’s doing.
This would be concerning at any time. It is particularly troubling when the international security situation has become so perilous. There can now be no doubt that Russia is mounting a hybrid war on Nato members. There have been drones flying over Poland and disrupting planes at Leipzig airport, and Russian submarine attacks on our undersea cables in the North Sea.
Meanwhile, the Houthis are attacking shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and Saudi oil pipelines on which the whole of Europe relies.
Yet where is the Government explaining what is happening and what Britain is doing about it? Where is Wes Streeting, apparently still the Defence Secretary… not that anyone would know?
Where is the Deputy Prime Minister, Louise Haigh, while the Prime Minister is in New York? The last time anyone heard from her she was being carted out of Keir Starmer’s government for not coming clean about her history with mobile phones.
The Labour Government is asleep at the wheel. And it speaks volumes that the shadow defence secretary wasn’t provided with a security briefing before the RAF were deployed in the Gulf.
There are established conventions around security briefings for the Opposition, precisely because some matters are bigger than normal party politics. Yet, while Burnham talks endlessly about wanting to work cross-party, he is slow to provide the Conservatives with a proper briefing.
Compare that with the French President Emmanuel Macron who, when confronted with the serious international situation, chose to bring opposition parties together to hatch a response. Whatever my political differences with Macron, that was an acknowledgement of the seriousness with which he views his office and the responsibilities that come with it.
Sadly, in Britain, we have a Prime Minister and a Government that are trying to find their feet at precisely the moment when the country needs real leadership. The warning signs were already there. Burnham entered Downing Street with lots of big ambitions, but ultimately little announcements that did nothing to address the long-term problems affecting the country.
It came as no surprise to me when Sky News revealed that much of what Burnham announced during the summer had already been prepared by the previous Starmer government. Once again I am left asking the question I asked on his first day in Downing Street: where is Burnham’s grand strategy? When do we get to hear it?
The answer appears to be that we have to wait. The country is under threat and underprepared. Our Armed Forces have postponed critical procurement decisions for over two years waiting for an investment plan from Labour. Burnham’s response? He’ll hit a defence spending target in 2035.
Britain faces enormous questions about energy security, investment and the future of North Sea jobs. The Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gas fields off the coast of Scotland are ready to start providing vital domestic energy when they are approved.
Burnham’s response? Another delay, this time until after the Holborn and St Pancras by-election. Andy Burnham is passing up the opportunity to secure energy supply and bring down bills because he’s worried about the Green Party. It’s becoming clearer by the day that Burnham’s plan is to unite Jeremy Corbyn’s hard-Left coalition ahead of a general election.
But Labour isn’t alone in being unprepared for the seriousness of this moment. You might not have noticed, but the Liberal Democrats have spent the last three days at their party conference struggling to explain what they actually stand for.
Ed Davey’s answer to the challenges of 2026 is another debate about rejoining the EU. Davey is offering the country a journey backwards, rather than a plan for the future. Most people have moved on, and politics should too. Britain has difficult questions to answer about economic growth, the levels of tax, defence, energy and the size of the state. Reopening an argument from 10 years ago is not a substitute for answering them.
Reform, meanwhile, with their constant scandals and police investigations, shows it lacks any of the discipline and organisational talent required to prepare for government.
The important question is what these parties would actually do when confronted with the decisions a government regularly has to make.
That is also the standard by which the Conservatives should be judged. I know perfectly well that many voters look at my party and remember the mistakes we made in government. They are entitled to do so. We governed for 14 years and we did not get everything right. Pretending otherwise would insult people’s intelligence.
However, even over those 14 years we were still the best option against a Corbyn-led Labour Party proposing to disband Nato, and a Lib Dem party who still don’t know what a woman is.
Opposition has given us the responsibility to learn from our mistakes and do the hard work required to govern again. We are developing serious plans because government cannot begin on the morning after an election. You need to know what you believe, what you want to change and how you are going to do it.
I have a positive solution. Policies that help businesses, encourage investment and create opportunities. The policy I announced on Monday to bring back tax-free shopping for overseas visitors is one such example. Backing entrepreneurs and risk takers, because jobs and growth are ultimately created by people who decide to invest, expand a business and hire staff.
The Britain I want to see is not one permanently waiting for the next Budget, party conference, or Starmer-planned political manoeuvre.
It is a country looking confidently to the future, with a government that understands the hard choices before it and is prepared to make them.
The Conservative Party has learnt, we are listening and we are ready with a plan to unite the country.
