It took Andy Burnham just three months to inherit the same levels of hatred and vitriol that drove Keir Starmer out of office. Apparently, we’re now supposed to believe that another lifelong public servant becomes PM and suddenly his mission is to deliberately “import rapists and criminals”, the phrase so many have been conditioned to repeat, and destroy our country. We’re supposed to believe that, are we? Despite immigration falling dramatically under this government and crime declining over the longer term. You can’t even let the man spend one evening at home filming a TV show to raise awareness for a cancer charity without people piling on with manufactured outrage. Just think about how ridiculous that is. Same narratives. Same fearmongering. Same manufactured outrage. And the same people falling for it, just as they did with Starmer. This has nothing to do with Burnham. It wouldn’t have mattered who was in power or what policies they pursued. A decade of manipulation has left people primed to have their fear and anger switched on in a heartbeat and directed at whoever those driving the outrage want to destroy. And so many have become part of that machine without even realising it.

Burnham is absolutely terrifying the hard-right grifters right now. They simply have no answer to someone who approaches politics with empathy, inclusion and hope. Someone who meets their fearmongering with positivity, their division with inclusion, and their outrage with calm, rational argument. Their entire model depends on generating fear, finding someone to blame; they are totally lost when up against someone refusing to play their game.