Prime Minister Andy Burnham has come under fire for his trip to the Caribbean this week, with critics accusing him of putting the UK in front of a "legal liability juggernaut" that could leave taxpayers paying billions in reparations for decades. The Prime Minister is now talking about a full apology for slavery, a trade which Britain ended and which has already cost the country dear.
Burnham is also discussing "restructuring" Commonwealth debt, which critics say translates to British taxpayers footing the bill. He has already doled out £40 million in aid to apologise for a trade that has nothing to do with anyone alive today.
Criticism of Apology Plans
Former top diplomat John Jenkins likened Burnham's capitulation to "a shakedown by professional grievance entrepreneurs." The King was previously handling the reparation demands well, stopping short of apologising for slavery but expressing genuine sorrow and horror while calming troubled waters. However, Burnham's intervention has given Commonwealth leaders "the scent of money again."
The opinion piece argues that apologising to countries that were "up to their necks in the slave trade" is morally abhorrent, and that any spare cash should be spent rebuilding the military rather than pandering to the demands of Commonwealth leaders.
Hypocrisy Over Government Jet
Burnham has also been accused of rank hypocrisy for forcing a taxpayer-funded government jet to divert from Stansted to pick him and his wife up in Manchester, where they had spent the weekend, before flying on to Antigua and Barbuda for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. Critics question why he had to go to Manchester that weekend knowing he was going to the Caribbean on Monday and knowing how much the diversion would cost.
The article also touches on other topics, including Claire Sweeney pulling out of the musical Annie weeks before opening night to appear on I'm A Celebrity, Esther McGregor's fashion choice at the Fashion Designer of America awards, and Myha'la Herrold's accusations of "unconscious racial and cultural bias" after being thrown out of Celebrity Traitors.
