So much for the promise of a bright new future. Andy Burnham is dragging the UK to hell in a handcart, writes Carole Malone in her latest opinion column.
Burnham's chaotic start in office
Carole Malone questions whether there was Russian interference in the Makerfield by-election, suggesting the one sure-fire way Putin could destroy Britain is by making sure Andy Burnham got elected there and then catapulted into Downing Street. She claims the plan is working.
He has only been there three months and already the IMF are demanding he stops spending money he hasn't got. His own cabinet is despairing over his off-the-cuff policy announcements which they then have to say aren't happening. He is up to his neck in the Man City scandal and hinted he might let Scotland have another referendum, which has had to be denied.
Broken promises and U-turns
He promised WASPI women money and then withdrew the offer. He said we might re-join the EU, having previously promised the people of Makerfield (to get their vote) that “Brexit was done”.
Malone calls him a detestable little socialist who is lying, U-turning and taking Britain to hell in a handcart – and his own people are now starting to realise it.
Other celebrity and political news
In other news, Kendall Jenner and Hayley Bieber have apparently been bitching about the fact Hollywood star Sydney Sweeney is trying to become the ultimate sex symbol. Malone notes that these two women have never used their beauty or their bodies to make money, get attention, get followers etc, while Sydney doesn't give a toss about what she calls the Nepo-Baby brigade. What she's earned is 100% down to her, whereas Jenner and Bieber were given a head start by being born into rich families with famous surnames.
After his treacherous betrayal of Ukraine this week and the disgusting diesel deal he did with Putin last week, Malone suggests Donald Trump's new slogan should be “Make Russia Great Again”. There's been much talk about the Barbie-like looks of his new press secretary Katie Zacharia, and surely no-one expected him to appoint someone who looked like Miss Marple.
Banished Traitor Myha’la Herrold (whose father is Jamaican) has accused the hit show of “unconscious racial bias”. Malone says it's not that, it's called sour grapes because she was voted out.
Charlotte Church’s healing retreat in Wales – The Dreaming – has been forced to close down. Malone says people in Wales don't have the time or the money for fancy, nancy healing retreats because they're too busy trying to earn a crust, and if Ms Church spent less time prancing around in keffiyehs and being irritatingly vocal about her views on Palestine her business might not be beggared.
Three months and five days after the death of Ann Widdecombe, Shabana Mahmood has announced an “urgent review” of security for high profile figures. Malone says this review couldn't have taken longer if she'd tried, and suspects things would have moved much faster if the man accused of murdering Ann and attacking Nigel Farage's home had been targeting Tory or Labour politicians, not Reform.
Benefits spending under scrutiny
In 20 years Britain has spent £1.6 trillion on benefits – that's two thirds more than we've spent on the actual infrastructure of the country. There are now 7.6 million people on sickness benefits, 3.5 million on universal credit and 4.1 million claiming PIP. Then there's the 1.4 million foreign nationals on benefits and, unbelievably, this week we learn there are more kids aged seven on Disability Living Allowance than aged 50.
Even worse, we discover that even when people are ready to come off benefits and tell the government so, it takes an average of TWO years – and very often more – for them to be reassessed and for the money orders to stop. If this Government doesn't tackle this come the budget Britain is finished. It's beyond madness that millions are being allowed to get away with gaming the system while the rest of us still dumb enough to work are being forced to pay for it.
