Burnham to say his government will be ‘unashamedly Labour’ in first speech as party leader

Good morning. Today the Labour party is going to formally announce at a “special conference” that Andy Burnham is its new leader. We will get a speech from Burnham at that event, and then he is expected to give another speech at an event later this afternoon.

As Kiran Stacey and Rowena Mason report, in his special conference speech Burnham will say he will lead a government that will have the “courage to fix the big things that politics has neglected” and the “conviction to argue for our plans”.

According to an overnight briefing, Burnham will also promise that the party under his leadership will be “unashamedly Labour in our priorities and in the decisions we take, putting people and places at the heart of everything we do”.

But Burnham does not actually get to start forming his government until Monday, when he will be appointed prime minister, take over in No 10 and start appointing his government.

Burnham’s communication via social media has been excellent in recent weeks and we saw another example last night when he posted video of himself in Cardiff holding an “Ask Andy Anything” event, sitting on a chair on the main pedestrianised shopping street and speaking to people passing by. “Ask Andy Anything” is not an invitation he has extended to journalists like Nick Robinson or Beth Rigby recently (he has done very little media as he has been planning for government), and if anyone did ask him who he was going to appoint as chancellor, the answer did not make it into the final video.

But there was a tantalising hint as to one of his priorities when he asked about social care. Burnham said that his father has Alzheimer’s and that as a result he was very familiar with the problems in the social care system. “If there’s one area that I’m going to expend quite of a lot of social capital [on], it’s going to be on social care,” he said.

Here are the key timings for the day.

Noon: Labour holds its special conference to announce Burnham as leader. Lucy Powell, the deputy Labour leader, Shabana Mahmood, chair of the national executive committee (as well as home secretary, and possible next chancellor), and Hollie Ridley, the outgoing general secretary, are all due to speak as well as Burnham.

2.30pm: Burnham is due to give a speech in the south-east of England.

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Key events

This morning the Times has splashed on a story claiming Andy Burnham is facing “a revolt from his core support on the Labour left over his plans to appoint Shabana Mahmood”.

The only MP quoted on the record in the story criticising Mahmood is Rachael Maskell, a prominent leftwinger who is comfortable speaking out against the leadership. She told the paper Ed Miliband would be a better chancellor because he “has Treasury experience and he’s been able to bring our party together around some very difficult issues”. She criticised Mahmood’s record on immigration and said Mahmood “hasn’t got the level of skill and experience to provide the leadership that is needed in the Treasury”.

Even though there may not be many other MPs speaking out publicly like Maskell, that does not mean there aren’t some who agree in private. The Times story quotes two of them speaking anonymously. It says:

A senior ally of Burnham said: “Shabana has no sense of the economics. It’s just not something she’s ever spoken about. She’s not collaborative. It’s not clear how she would drive the machine.”

Another Labour MP said: “It’s baffling a lot of people because nobody knows what her views are on the economy. Does she even have any? She’s never done a speech or intervention. It’s just absolutely bizarre and I can’t see her as a sensible appointment.

“Ed would have been a much more experienced chancellor because his original background was in finance. He was central to Gordon Brown’s team. It doesn’t bode well for the fundamental rethink of how we actually do government.”

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Zack Polanski says progressives worry Burnham looks like ‘Keir Starmer with different face’

Zack Polanski, the Green party leader, used to be relatively positive about the prospect of Andy Burnham becoming Labour leader. More recently he has sounded less enthusiastic, particularly after the reports saying Burnham is going to appoint Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, as his chancellor.

In an interview on Sky News this morning, Polanski said he was worried that Burnham could end up like Keir Starmer “with a different face”.

He said:

Let’s see what [Burnham] does as prime minister. And if he does bring in the wealth tax, if he does build council homes, I’ll be the first to applaud that.

[But] I think people who are on the left or who want to see progressive politics are looking at Andy Burnham and going, this looks a lot like Keir Starmer with a different face.

Polanski also argued that, if people wanted progressive politics, they could get “the full version” with his party.

I think we’re still going to see [under Burnham] a party where inequality gets wider, where we’ve seen them apologise for Labour’s history in Gaza, but he’s still not signalled that he’s going to stop selling arms to Israel.

I think again and again we’re going to hear rhetoric which is more in line with what the Green party are saying. But why have semi-skimmed when you could come to the Green party and actually have the full version, where we’re both saying and doing things?