Prime Minister Andy Burnham was left smiling wryly after a care home resident failed to recognize him and joked that Britain's prime ministers "keep changing every five minutes."
Pensioner mistakes PM for local candidate
During a visit to a home in northwest London, an elderly gentleman first asked Mr Burnham if he was "the local candidate?" Mr Burnham, 56, replied that he had been a candidate before "but I'm now the prime minister." The resident, who appeared not to hear, responded, "You what?"
A staff member then loudly said in the man's ear, "He's the prime minister," prompting the pensioner to joke: "What, a new one? They keep changing every 5 minutes."
Name confusion
The exchange continued as Mr Burnham told the man he was "Andy," the shortening of his name he prefers. The resident replied "Andrew?" Mr Burnham conceded: "That's it, yeah."
Social care talks
Mr Burnham visited the care home to call on Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch and Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey to meet for cross-party talks on fixing social care. Speaking at the home on Wednesday, he said: "I have been here before, and yes, I do have some of the scars of that, but it’s the right thing to do."
He added: "I stood on the steps of Downing Street just a few days ago, and I said I wanted to create a new way of doing politics in this country, more problem solving, less point scoring, and this is the first big test of that." He stressed that parties would need to find "common ground" for a "lasting solution" and that "that process starts today."
Criticism over exclusion
Despite inviting the Conservatives and Lib Dems, Mr Burnham faced criticism for not including Reform UK, the Green Party, or the SNP. Reform UK's Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick said his party would oppose any attempt to introduce a "universal death tax" to fund social care, instead vowing to "cut the ridiculous spending the failed political establishment has imposed on our country for 30 years."
Green Party Westminster leader Ellie Chowns, also excluded, called it "deeply disappointing" and urged Mr Burnham to work collaboratively with all parties.
