London’s Burham’s

The country’s standing as a functional polity, already shaky, took another blow today, as Keir Starmer’s resignation marked the seventh time in a decade that the nation has been obliged to contemplate a new Prime Minister. It’s worth noting that only two of the six ex-premiers were dismissed by the electorate; Rishi Sunak directly in a General Election, and David Cameron as a consequence of the Brexit referendum. Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, and now Starmer were all defenestrated by their own MPs, making a mockery of our supposed democratic process.

So now we must, it seems, welcome Andy Burnham, who is offering… well it’s not clear exactly, since his declared platform doesn’t consist of much more than not being Keir Starmer.

I guess I should wait a little longer to see how things play out before I succumb to cynical hopelessness, but it feels like we’ve been around this block several times over the last few years, so it’s hard to retain any optimism…