Leadership front runner and cosy links to union boss
ANDY Burnham is the man Unite chief Len McCluskey has named as the ‘most impressive’ member on the Labour frontbench.
In return he is viewed as the leadership candidate who is closest to the hard-Left union.
Mr Burnham is a member of Unite, has taken at least £3,500 in donations from them, and was the only Shadow Cabinet member to speak at the union’s conference in Liverpool last year.
But he has defended his union links, saying it provided the ‘cleanest money in politics’.
Almost two-thirds of Labour MPs are members of Unite or have received money from the union. Fellow leadership candidate Yvette Cooper is a member, as is potential candidate Tristram Hunt.
But it seems few garner the respect of Mr McCluskey like Mr Burnham does. Late last year, after admitting that ‘inspiration is something Ed Miliband doesn’t do’, the Unite boss was asked which Labour frontbencher inspired him.
He replied: ‘To be honest with you, the person who impresses me most at the moment is Andy Burnham.’
Yesterday, Mr Burnham admitted he had spoken to the Unite leader since he launched his leadership bid.
Of the leadership vote, he said: ‘This won’t be union bosses deciding, this will be school dinner ladies, this will be healthcare assistants.
‘I am the unifying candidate. I am bringing all parts of the Labour movement together.’
But the Labour health spokesman’s current stance seems to contrast sharply with his role as a key member of Tony Blair’s government.
He started out as a special adviser to Chris Smith, who was Culture Secretary in Mr Blair’s first term.
He was elevated to the government four years after he was elected to Parliament in 2001, becoming a junior Home Office minister.
Health Secretary between 2009 and 2010, he was at the heart of a government that was contracting out parts of the NHS to the private sector.
But in opposition he has moved Leftwards in what many see as a cynical attempt to win the support of the unions in the event of any leadership bid.
Meanwhile the MP who was charged with writing the Labour manifesto said the party is facing one of the greatest crises in its history.
Jon Cruddas told BBC Radio 4: ‘I argued that the 2010 defeat was actually the worst defeat in Labour history since 191 , and the defeat of ten days ago was much worse – so this is profound.’
Mr Cruddas added that the new leader must be ‘prepared to go to the dark places and fundamentally rethink what the Labour Party is for, who it represents, what it’s all about’.