Everything is narrative: Burnham and Farage strain to define the debate

Most of politics can be boiled down to an attempt by its participants to shape and grasp the narrative, holding on by their fingernails if necessary, as the course of events and the agendas of their rivals threaten to push them off course.

With the UK experiencing one of its increasingly frequent bouts of uncertainty and change, this week’s events present an excellent opportunity to see this trend in action.

Today marks the formal opening of nominations among Labour MPs for the party’s new leader. Barring a staggering upset, Makerfield member Andy Burnham will be confirmed as the only candidate and duly elected leader – and thus Prime Minister – later this month. Knowing this, Burnham’s team have taken the opportunity to start breadcrumbing information to indicate what his agenda in government will be. 

Following his speech on 29 June, where he committed to a ‘No.10 of the North’, the former mayor of Greater Manchester writes on defence and foreign policy in The Times today, trying to define his place in the debate before his opponents do it for him. 

Closer ties with Europe, support for a British supply chain and a commitment to Ukraine and NATO would probably have been the positions of any potential Labour leader at this point in time. In writing the piece however, Burnham’s main focus is the need to address the theme of ‘continuity with change’ that any party leader taking over between election cycles would have to face. 

The bond markets, Britain’s allies and Labour Party members all have their different reasons to want a Burnham administration to avoid too many radical departures from what the government has done to date, albeit with a stronger communications operation and a stronger, more optimistic sense of narrative. By restating the party’s core positions while making it sound more ‘Burnhamite’ with phrases like ‘reindustrialisation through defence’, the soon-to-be Prime Minister is trying to get ahead of inevitable attacks from other parties and the media, which will follow him from the moment he enters 10 Downing Street.

Diagnosing a high-handed approach to the parliamentary Labour Party as one of the structural defects of the Starmer era, Burnham has also written a letter to the PLP promising a new era of government-backbench relations – “changing culture through valuing and respecting every member of the PLP”. Ministers will engage more frequently with other MPs, the Whips Office will be reformed to be more like a HR department than an instrument of fear, and Burnham himself will vote in person more frequently. Clear signalling about the direction of travel, it will be fascinating to observe how these pledges fare once the sheen of novelty has worn off the new government in a year or two’s time. But until events intervene, clear signalling and a strong hold on the narrative are crucial to political success.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage is probably a little sick of ‘events’, following a small avalanche of revelations regarding his property portfolio and his non-declaration of gifts from Christopher Harborne and George Cottrell. Farage’s attempt to reclaim the narrative was his resignation from parliament, as we reported on Tuesday, to trigger what he claimed was a ‘People vs. the Establishment’ by-election for his old seat in Clacton.

Another communications masterstroke by a man who has imposed himself by brute force at the centre of British politics for over a decade? Or a misstep? Since Tuesday’s announcement, all other main parties have stated they will not contest the ‘farce’ of a by-election, forcing Farage into the unusual position of spending the summer (in chancellor Rachel Reeves’ words) “arguing with a bin”. Even assuming he wins the by-election, the parliamentary inquiry into his affairs will resume, raising the prospect of a second, ‘recall’ by-election which his opponents would be only too glad to fight. 

Further revelations today about a policy investigation into a donation to Reform’s star convert Robert Jenrick raises the temperature for Farage and Reform even higher. Having shaped the narrative for so long, the party is now experiencing what it’s like to have to chase it instead.