I Advised Tony Blair. And My Advice to Andy Burnham Is to Be as Ruthless as He Was – But Against Neoliberalism
Former Downing Street aide John McTernan has penned a must-read memo for the new PM on day one, on how vital it is to assert 'Burnhamism', tackle the Gaza issue and learn from Zohran Mamdani.
Dear Prime Minister,
On your first day, I want to give you some advice.
(And Andy, though we’ve been friends for 30 years, I need to call you PM because that’s who you are now, and you need to get used to the title, the status and the power.)
1. You start with a full tank of authority. Use it!
I have seen prime ministers up close. I worked for Tony Blair in his final years in office as his political secretary. There’s nothing like the end of an era to teach you everything you need to know about political management. Every reshuffle meant a further depletion of the store of political currency. All those former ministers who had relied on the backbenchers to loyally vote through their policies, suddenly found their precious political consciences when they left the front bench. I ran a group of those who stayed loyal – “The Non-Embittered Former Ministers”.
But you start with a full tank of authority. Use it! Quickly and decisively! The cruellest judgment on Donald Dewar after the first 100 days of running the newly devolved Scottish Parliament was that he “hit the ground dawdling”.