Read this week’s Who’s Top, Who’s Not – brought to you by Whitehouse’s Max Wilson
Top – Andy Burnham
Who else? Today, the King of the North fulfils a lifetime ambition and becomes Leader of the Labour Party. Only a few short months ago that seemed unlikely and now he is only a few days away from becoming prime minister.
His team is slowly coming together, although you wouldn’t know it from all the contradictory briefings and counter-briefings appearing in the press. WTWN understands that candidates for the top cabinet jobs are trying to brief their way into office but the risk for Burnham is that his operation looks incoherent, and it could undermine the successful candidates by their not appearing to have the full authority of the new prime minister.
As well as building his team, Burnham also spent this week planning his policy agenda and how that fits into his overall vision for the country. We will hopefully hear more of this in two key speeches: one today as he becomes Labour leader and another on Monday in Downing Street after becoming prime minister. The first will be party-facing, reassuring Labour colleagues that he will govern in the Labour tradition, and this will be crucial if he is to succeed in bringing his colleagues in the PLP with him on his political journey.
The second speech is far more important. This will be aimed at the country, introducing himself to the British public and setting out his vision of how he will improve their lives in the coming years. But it could also act as a reference point or unofficial manifesto for how he intends to govern, and one that ministers, SpAds, MPs and civil servants can look to when considering whether their own specific policy, legislative, regulatory or political workstreams fit into the PM’s overall vision.
Middle – Catherine West
Burnham’s coronation wasn’t quite as North Korean as some had predicted. Yes, the number of PLP nominations was overwhelming and he ended up as the only name on the ballot, but there were a couple of hold-outs from strong-willed Labour MPs.
Unsurprisingly, Burnham’s predecessor didn’t nominate him. Nor did party stalwart Siobhain McDonagh, amongst others. But they also didn’t nominate anyone else. The only Labour MP with deep principles/complete disregard for their own career was Neil Coyle who nominated Catherine ‘skippy’ West, the first Labour MP who went over the top in the coup against Starmer. WTWN prides itself as being a family newsletter and so readers will have to do some digging to find out Coyle’s declared motivations.
For her part, skippy made clear that she was nominating Andy and so the final tallies in the Labour Leadership contest of 2026 were officially Burnham 379, West 1. Bookmark this moment for future political pub quizzes!
Bottom – Keir Starmer
Again, who else? It’s been a long time coming and Keir Starmer is reaching the final days of his premiership. The PM doesn’t even get the thrill of a final trip to New Jersey to watch England in the World Cup Final; at least he will have plenty of time to watch his beloved Arsenal kick off in a few weeks’ time.
There has been a sense of inevitability for some time of Starmer’s premiership ending prematurely, and yet future historians may struggle to pin down the one moment that led to his downfall. In truth, there were many reasons but perhaps the Primus inter pares was his distinct lack of politics. In this, he perhaps shares some similarities with his immediate predecessor as PM, Rishi Sunak, who was also often seen as a fundamentally decent person but also a technocrat.
To be PM, you need acute political intelligence, the ability to make big arguments, to draw together your parliamentary party, and to articulate a political vision that brings colleagues and the voters with you. Starmer never truly got to grips with these challenges, but WTWN wishes him well.