The former MP offers no consideration that Burnham or Khan might actually hold principled positions and that the idea that resisting attacks on disabled people might be a moral imperative, rather than a political manoeuvre.
In yet another head-scratching, ‘look twice’ headline from the Telegraph’s ongoing campaign to sow division on the left, columnist Tom Harris declared that Andy Burnham is doing more damage to Labour than Jeremy Corbyn.
Harris, a former Labour MP who lost his seat in 2015 and has since reinvented himself as a mouthpiece for the right-wing press, claims Burnham is “keen to burnish his soft-Left political credentials by jumping on the anti-cuts bandwagon.”
Harris took over the Telegraph’s left-bashing column from Dan Hodges, who decamped to the Daily Mail. Skwawkbox has described Harris as “a hardened opponent of Jeremy Corbyn.” But his vendetta seems to have moved beyond Corbyn and is now redirected at any Labour figure who dares to question Keir Starmer and add to the general unsettling of the currently deeply disturbed Labour ranks.
Harris also takes aim at the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, who encouraged Labour MPs to rebel over the disability benefits cuts, and Andy Burnham, who, according to Harris is “another aspiring party leader.”
The author lumps the two Labour leaders together as troublemakers with national profiles, all but accusing them of undermining the party purely out of personal ambition.
“Starmer must be wondering if the last Labour government’s (and the last Tory one’s) eagerness to set up powerful mayors across the country was wise after all,” Harris sneers.
The former MP offers no consideration that Burnham or Khan might actually hold principled positions and that the idea that resisting attacks on disabled people might be a moral imperative, rather than a political manoeuvre.
And as for the comparison to Jeremy Corbyn? Equally as head scratching. As we know, the “damage” Corbyn did to Labour is a contested narrative, depending largely on who’s telling the story.
Fortunately, readers saw through Harris’s column. One comment under the article summed up the mood:
“Usual Torygraph bollox.”
“Burnham has always been a supporter of the disabled and underdogs in general. It’s a shame the Snottygraph never does,” was another.
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