The Rest Is Politics

Podbit · The Rest Is Politics

545. Burnham Beats Reform: Britain’s Next Prime Minister?

Explore episode Jun 19, 2026

Where this was said

Rory's Verdict: Starmer Cannot Win

At 15:35 · chapter starts 10:00

Rory Stewart is unsparing: Keir Starmer cannot win the next election. He is not a winning phenomenon, his net popularity is terrible, he cannot make a speech, and in every room Rory visits nobody can articulate his economic policy. The analogy is stark — the ship is heading into the iceberg, and while getting off and boarding lifeboats may not work, there is no case for staying with Starmer. He is equally direct about what made Burnham's campaign impressive: he ran a pragmatic, progressive, laid-back operation without any temptation to steal Reform's language or sound right-wing. That, Stewart argues, is the recipe for British politics. He identifies Morgan McSweeney's strategy — sounding like a 'mini-Reform' on certain issues without being able to project Labour's traditional optimism — as the worst possible approach, delivering neither the Reform vote nor the centre-left base.

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