Kemi Badenoch has warned Andy Burnham that ‘the honeymoon is over’ as the Prime Minister prepares for his toughest week yet.
As MPs return to the House of Commons after their summer recess, Burnham is faced with a nightmarish to-do list that could lead to a Work civil war.
The Prime Minister will finally appear in the Dispatch Box on Tuesday, the first time he will speak to Ms Badenoch, followed immediately by an announcement about the early release of more prisoners, threatening anger among his female base.
There are also expected to be announcements this week on sanctions against Israeli settlements and on drilling in the North Sea.
Yesterday it was reported that a decision on the Rosebank oil and gas field will be delayed, leading to accusations from a pro-drilling Labor MP that Mr Burnham had ‘bottled’ it and evidence was that Ed Miliband is ‘supreme’.
This week will also welcome Mr Burnham Emmanuel Macron Unpleasant Londonas he plays diplomatic host for the first time.
Before Burnham finally presented himself for long-awaited scrutiny by MPs, Ms Badenoch warned: “The honeymoon is over.”
She told the Mail on Sunday: ‘Andy Burnham needs to stop tinkering around the edges and start doing the job he has set himself up to do.
Kemi Badenoch has warned Andy Burnham that ‘the honeymoon is over’, ahead of a huge first week of MPs returning to the House of Commons
One Labor MP told Mr Burnham to ‘abandon the guitar’ and focus on the real work at hand
On Tuesday, Mr Burnham will be at the shipping box for the first time in 16 years
‘If he won’t make the tough decisions to scrap the welfare bill, strengthen defenses and resist the urge to spend money on taxpayers’ credit cards, then he’s just the same old Labor leader from the same old Labor Party.
‘I look forward to getting hold of him this week and getting answers to the questions the British people are actually asking – not more bits and pieces from a Prime Minister who still seems to think he’s running a mayoralty.’
Last night Downing Street claimed Burnham would use his parliamentary debut as Prime Minister as ‘the moment when we start to bring back hope’.
A spokesman said that after his summer tour of Britain, where he met families, shop owners and publicans, he “will continue to work to restore hope while tackling the issues that have been ignored for too long.”
“The Prime Minister does not accept that the government’s role is to stand by and watch as every bill increases, squeezing the joy out of life.
“He will promise the country that where we can make life more affordable, we will do so.
“We can make this moment the moment when Britain starts to believe again, and we bring back hope.”
The promise of ‘hope’ sparked skepticism from those left behind, with one weary Labor MP telling this newspaper: ‘I’ve already given up my postcode for the growth we’ve been promised’.
However, Burnham’s honeymoon and series of PR-focused announcements have earned him a reprieve from angry Keir Starmer loyalists.
The mass plundering of the former prime minister’s allies sparked outrage in July, with warnings that they would plot an “autumn of revenge” if MPs returned to Westminster.
These include plans to force Mr Burnham to stick to Keir Starmer’s tax pledgeand looking to a new parliamentary caucus to lobby for “economic competence.”
Last night a leading rebel told the MoS they plan to ‘spread out my interventions’ to ‘give them some breathing space’, parodying Burnham’s own slogan about the cost of living.
They added: ‘Nothing explosive from me ahead of the conference – although I can’t speak for others.’
Another prominent critic of Mr Burnham warned that the Prime Minister would return to a “split” Parliamentary Labor Party after Sir Keir’s departure from Downing Street, with “many people injured”.
They added that Labor MPs will push for substance from the new Prime Minister after a summer of feel-good announcements, warning: ‘I want to feel inspired and confident that he will make the right decisions.
Referring to his recent visit to Ukraine, they added: ‘Leave the guitar… drop all that nonsense and do the right thing.’
Although Nigel Farage returns to Parliament this week, one face will be conspicuously absent from the proceedings.
A friend of Keir Starmer said he will not sit around on the green benches and cause problems for his successor.
Signs that Mr Burnham is not leading a unified party were underlined this week with the party’s National Executive Committee election results.
The Starmerite-backed faction called ‘Labour to Win’ won the election with a clean sweep, despite predictions that their dominance in the ruling panel would decline.
A source warned: ‘Burnham has never been to membership… if you were backing the NEC to be loyal behind Andy, this is not the outcome you would want to see.
They added that the outcome of the contest will make Mr Burnham ‘think about how he approaches the party – we are not on a journey to become a left-wing party’. [party] soon.’
Labor sources suggested this week that Mr Burnham’s biggest challenge will be avoiding any stumbles before the budget, with speculation mounting this week over what tax rises lie ahead.
Friends of the Prime Minister hope that Labor unity will remain for now as MPs leave the House of Commons again for their conference recess on September 15.
But questions remain around the authority of new Chancellor John Healey.
Mr Healey’s interview on Friday, in which he claimed he represented “continuity” with the previous government and refused to set a date on which he would increase defense spending to 3% of GDP, was the biggest clue yet to the difficult reality Burnham faces in the coming months.
Robert Jenrick, Reform’s economic spokesman, said the intervention was proof that “the coronation of Andy Burnham as Prime Minister offers us nothing more than Starmerism with a northern accent.”
A Labor insider predicted that Burnham’s successive upheavals and flip-flops will continue in the coming weeks.
Since becoming number 10, Mr Burnham has already rowed back against increasing personal income tax allowances, rent controls, renationalising Thames Water, restricting donations to political parties and the early release of PC Andrew Harper’s killers.
The source warned: ‘In the coming weeks you will see yourself going back further than the budget, and Kemi will be allowed to deliver some blows [Burnham].’
