ANALYSIS – MARTYN BROWN: Andy Burnham’s arrival was treated with a feline ‘pfft’ from its most famous occupant… I know what Larry the Cat is trying to say.
Martyn Brown is our Westminster Insider (Image: Express)
Larry, the Downing Street cat, summed it up as he ambled nonchalantly towards me at around lunchtime on Tuesday. It wasn’t quite disdain, more like a “pfft, what’s all the fuss about” kind of look.
He didn’t bother to hang around, vanishing past a thicket of photographers, political journalists, myself included, and TV broadcasters, most likely heading off for a nap. We were here because Andy Burnham – Larry’s seventh Prime Minister – was just about to hold his first ever Cabinet meeting. One by one they entered through the famous black door to sit around the famous long green baize table with the ‘King of the North’.
Andy Burnham arrives in Downing Street after being crowned PM (Image: Getty)
Larry the cat briefly entertains journalists in Downing Street on Tuesday (Image: Getty)
Among them were John Healey, the surprise new Chancellor, Shabana Mahmood, the Home Secretary, one time leadership hopeful, now Defence Secretary, Wes Streeting, and Angela Rayner, back from the cold as Housing Secretary.
Ed Miliband appeared to revel in being Foreign Secretary, grinning manically as he posed for the cameras before going inside. But Larry’s attitude is right, one that is most likely felt across the country. We’ve been here so many times before, why will Keir Starmer’s replacement be any different?
Just 24 hours earlier, Burnham entered No 10 as the UK’s 59th Prime Minister. There were tears and cheers as Sir Keir bade farewell with a short but dignified speech. But it somehow felt out of keeping for someone who has had a relatively brief and somewhat tumultuous premiership. An hour or so later, Burnham swept in to even bigger cheers.
That felt somewhat out of kilter too, his arrival the result of a bloodless coup, not a stonking election victory. C’est la vie, this is the world we live in these days. Burnham’s speech, delivered without a lectern or notes, was on the short side as well. He pointedly didn’t mention Starmer either.
Former special advisor Dominic Cummings sits behind a picnic table (Image: Getty)
Not long after, I and several other Political Editors were summoned to the Downing Street Garden, to speak to the new Prime Minister. Burnham eventually turned up late – I think he’d been speaking to Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky on the phone – as he joined us next to fold-up a picnic table in the delightfully summery garden.
“Is that Dominic’s,” he joked, alluding to the one Dominic Cummings sat behind during his infamous Covid press conference in 2020. I detected a certain unease about the new PM as he scanned the crowd of hacks around him, looking for familiar faces.
After just four questions – those that didn’t get to ask one were furious – he was dragged away by his aides, presumably so he could carry out the brutal reshuffle that was about to follow.
That clearout of Starmerites included axings for Rachel Reeves, Dan Jarvis, James Murray, Steve Reed and Nick Thomas-Symonds. Burnham has promised to do things differently and, so far, he has kind of stuck to his word.
The rest of the week continued with a slew of 6am announcements – to cut electricity bills, cap bus fares and slash business rates for pubs. True to his word, he spent Friday working from his new office in Manchester – the No 10 of the North.
This, Burnham claims, will happen every week. Larry will certainly be pleased – Home Alone without a Prime Minister in site!
