{"id":96926,"date":"2026-11-10T07:47:29","date_gmt":"2026-11-10T07:47:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/?p=96926"},"modified":"2026-11-10T07:47:29","modified_gmt":"2026-11-10T07:47:29","slug":"burnham-proves-hes-clueless","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2026\/11\/10\/burnham-proves-hes-clueless\/","title":{"rendered":"Burnham proves he’s clueless"},"content":{"rendered":"

As The National, the newspaper I wrote for in Scotland, has reported this week<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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ANDY Burnham has appointed a controversial firm involved in Donald Trump's \"Gaza riviera\" proposal to draft up his 10-year plan.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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The Prime Minister has reportedly called in Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to help draw up the plan, The Times reports.<\/p>\n

It comes after it emerged that the document may not be as ambitious<\/a> as first thought.<\/p>\n

The 10-year-plan may not be published in December, as has been briefed previously, but could slip until the new year.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

According to Whitehall sources, their involvement will be limited.<\/p>\n

The real question, however, is why Andy Burnham needs to ask a consulting firm what he thinks.<\/p>\n

If he did not have a plan for what he wanted to achieve as Prime Minister before he took on that role, he was, by definition, unsuited for it.<\/p>\n

And, as a matter of fact, if he has not got an inner compass of his own priorities that he can recall and recount to anyone at any moment, then he lacks the essential tool that anyone in a position of authority in an organisation needs to be able to direct its activities, which is the whole task that the Prime Minister is required to undertake.<\/p>\n

This revelation is, then, in itself quite shocking.<\/p>\n

More shocking is that he has asked for assistance from the Boston Consulting Group, which is archly neoliberal, a major proponent of the wealth divisions that underpin that philosophy, and has also been associated with Trump\u2019s post-conflict plans for Gaza. As disastrous PR choices go, this one is up there in the stratosphere.<\/p>\n

Shocked by this, I have decided to write my own ten-year plan for what I think a UK government should be doing at present. This will be coming out as a video series, starting soon. If Burnham does not know why he needs such a plan, or what should be in it, someone needs to tell him. It might as well be me.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As The National, the newspaper I wrote for in Scotland, has reported this week: ANDY Burnham has appointed a controversial firm involved in Donald Trump’s
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