Europe doesn’t need to worry about Andy Burnham. He has the makings of a great ally

Defence strategists fret about the next PM’s inexperience. But he knows about local resilience. That’s the kind of skill Nato urgently needs I recently asked a senior Labour figure what Andy Burnham’s defence agenda might look like. “He doesn’t really have one,” came the reply – offered not so much as a criticism of the UK’s prime minister in waiting, as a statement of fact. Given that Keir Starmer’s resignation came after a mutiny within his own government over inadequate defence spending, some may view Burnham’s lack of direct defence experience as a worrying liability. But beyond the UK, Starmer was at least viewed as a statesman for his commitment to the defence of Ukraine. Leaders in western Europe’s other capitals may now fear that Starmer’s untested successor will be more focused on “ No 10 North ” than on Nato and European security. Jessica Berlin is a political analyst and a non-resident senior fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis Continue reading...

Europe doesn’t need to worry about Andy Burnham. He has the makings of a great ally

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