I think some of his previous comments when spoken of leadership ambitions were undermining. It is the nature of politics and there are a lot of comments of support currently that I think have tactical undertones, not just from Burnham, but from Streeting and some of the rest of the Cabinet. And given how unpopular and weak Starmer is, I don’t think it is fully without reason.
Again, it doesn’t make them bad, but I don’t think it’s high principle. I am not totally against Burnham, but he very much has a political gamesmanship mind, as do many of them. I find it funny when it is said Starmer was previously playing games, but Burnham hasn’t been doing. As a social media joke goes: “A Blairite, a Brownite and a Corbynite walk into a bar. The barman says “what are you having today, Mr Burnham?””
