Michael Frayn wrote it, John Cleese delivered it and I currently find myself thinking of it every time Andy Burnham opens his mouth. “It’s not the despair, Laura,” explained Cleese’s chaotic headmaster Brian Stimpson in the 1986 film Clockwise. “I can take the despair. It’s the hope I can’t stand.”
There is, in no particular order, Tuesday’s announcement of plans to help the legions of young people currently being failed by the education system, the removal of VAT from our electricity bills, the cap on bus fares, social care reform, an end to rough sleeping and the business rates cut for much of the beleaguered hospitality industry.
There is also, less seriously but no less importantly in electoral terms, the basic approachability and facility with social media that is seeing him reach parts that most Labour politicians have historically failed to reach. One clip, where he and Chancellor John Healey rank their favourite pub snacks, took seconds to drive home just what Keir Starmer so signally lacked: normality, the “common touch”, being recognisably human. Who knew that a scampi fry could make such a profound contribution to political discourse?
All of this is, of course, vulnerable to accusations of gimmickry or tinkering at the edges of problems that deserve bigger, more decisive action. And those accusations will only grow in volume as more flesh appears on the bones of “Burnhamism”.
But after well under a fortnight in power, the Prime Minister has achieved something that – and this is where that hope can become quite painful – will be almost impossible to undo. He has established that he recognises and inhabits the world that many voters feel is alien to the so-called political (or, indeed, media) class. And, crucially for those of us disturbed by the rise in populism and far-right propaganda, he has done so without dangerously and dishonestly attributing their problems and grievances to immigration.
The most essential element of this early success is the recognition of epic national imbalance across the UK. It has been presented as geographical and, for all the talk of reaching all the regions, at first glance it certainly looks to be. When campaigning in Makerfield, Burnham said of the Labour Party that “the London set have run it for too long” and No 10 North, a branch office for the Prime Minister and Cabinet, is already up and running in Manchester.
But it is, I think, a lot more sophisticated than that. And it is more about class and tradition than postcode or county. He is speaking to inequality not just of outcomes and incomes but also of subtler, more personal life experiences. When, for example, he talks about the role that pubs play in safeguarding “working-class culture”, he is addressing the same sentiments that less honest brokers exploit when they talk about national identity being somehow eroded by recent arrivals.
People who feel that their community has lost something precious in recent years have provided fertile ground for the “othering” of Polish lorry drivers and ethnic minorities beloved of Nigel Farage and his ilk. But we saw in the Makerfield result that this may only be because – and here comes that infernal hope again – nobody else was offering a convincing counter-argument.
Pubs, or venues like the Stubshaw Cross Community Club where Burnham’s operations were based during the by-election campaign, have closed at a rate of knots in recent years but the ones that remain are valued by the communities that use them. When Burnham talks of their importance and pledges to protect them, he is not promising to turn back time and somehow reopen shuttered premises. He is simply saying that he gets it. He understands the sense of loss and will work to undo the notion that a pervading sense of broader decline is inevitable and irreversible. And he will begin by moving some of the decision-making that affects them closer, literally, to home.
It is, to say the least, uncomfortable for a privately educated, London-dwelling graduate like me to pontificate on the priorities and concerns of “working-class” communities. But I think it’s fair to say that the only people repeatedly and persuasively claiming to represent their interests in recent years have been self-serving racist liars.
Burnham’s motivation, by contrast, is clear and authentic. He is speaking and listening to people who have felt ignored by “mainstream” politics for years. They were briefly scooped up by Tory Brexiters, fed a diet of undiluted nonsense, robbed of their votes and then quickly abandoned. Farage has managed to keep some of them on side with his populist playbook but Makerfield showed us that the bonds are loosening. Burnham’s tanks are on his lawn now, but almost by accident. Not because of who he is fighting against but because of who he is fighting for.
Because it is not just about the policies, relocations and ideas Andy Burnham is announcing. It is, perhaps even more importantly, about the people whose existence and experiences they address. Polling this week suggests that the first days of his premiership have seen the public respond positively to Burnham, his style and his early announcements.
And the feeling this engenders in all genuine patriots, as opposed to the bozos hanging flags on lampposts or politicians bleating nonsensically about “anti-white racism”, is hope. Horrible, horrible hope.
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