Can Burnham keep his eye on the bigger picture as he attempts to dominate the daily news cycle? One issue staring us all in the face: climate change - not just prevention, which is crying out for international leadership, but also mitigation, where govt is failing miserably.

The Telegraph's challenge to Restore Britain continues It is running a series of August news stories based on things said on TV in February www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/08...

Join us for 'Let's Talk' with Giles Brown - right now! Director of think tank Civil Exchange, ex-civil servant - including Private Secretary to two PMs (!), @carolineslocock.bsky.social , discusses 'Bad Government: And How To Make It Better'

V much hope Burnham can sort out social care, at last. Amongst other things, he’s said to be considering locking out private firms, often run by extractive private equity firms which push up prices, from public funding. Unravelling Thatcher’s legacy… www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

Andy Burnham to lock out private firms from social care revolution

The prime minister wants to stop taxpayers subsidising private equity profits as he seeks to set up an NHS-style service

thetimes.com

Ministers love machinery of govt changes - it’s something they can do ‘just like that’. They underestimate the massive disruption and distraction, in some cases for years, as caused by constant NHS reorganisations. Plus a larger No 10 is a big mistake. Slowing not speeding govt up.

Burnham has set out some operating principles for govt - a preventive state, investing in people's success rather than paying for failure, working through collaboration with others, with the care of people at its heart. If he delivers on this, it will be a 'circuit breaker'.

Looking forward to speaking with Jeremy Vine on BBC radio 2 around 12.30 ish, about Burnham's speech on the steps of No 10 and the challenges he faces.

As soon as Burnham enters No 10, the harder it will be to retain his USP, his authentic self. 'Andy' will now be 'PM', largely relying on others in No 10 to determine his diary, make decisions/speak for him, or put words in his mouth. The more he does, the less he's in control.

Burnham's promise to overturn Thatcher's legacy took me right back to the passage in my first book, People Like Us, about how she utterly changed the political and economic landscape, and wondering who would have the strength to overturn it. Can he do it? 🧵

Last year the govt signed a Covenant saying it 'respects the independence & legitimacy of civil society organisations to advocate & campaign..& to hold the government to account', yet now lashes out at @savechildrenuk for criticising it on Gaza: www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Save the Children clashes with Labour after accusing Starmer of ‘complicity’ in Gaza deaths

Government – which provides significant portion of charity’s funding – is understood to have demanded an explanation

theguardian.com

Hoping for a clear sense of purpose and direction from Burnham's govt. 'Place first, not party' and 'doing govt differently' is a start but I'm struggling to see how constant media briefing against Miliband saying Mahmood will be ChEx fits in with this. I'm losing the plot.

Looking forward to reviewing tomorrow's newspapers tonight @listentotimesradio.bsky.social at 10.30 with Carole Walker

On Friday 13th March 2020, the Dept Cab Secretary, Helen MacNamara went into No 10 and told them she'd just been informed that there was no plan for Covid: 'I think we are absolutely f****d. I think this country is heading for a disaster.' 🧵

Looks like the Hillsborough Law is back on track to be passed by Parliament, placing a duty of candour on all public servants to tell the truth and not to obstruct investigations when things go wrong. Likely to be a key part of Starmer's legacy. Why do we need it? 🧵

The Wildlife Trusts published a report detailing the decline of the UK’s environment over the last 10 years. Despite promises from successive governments to improve protections for nature after leaving the EU, this new report shows that things have actually moved in exactly the opposite direction.

Ten years on from the vote: Brexit has turned the UK grey not green | The Wildlife Trusts

A new report commissioned by The Wildlife Trusts has uncovered the decade-long decline of the UK’s environment since the EU Referendum.

wildlifetrusts.org

Big money is increasingly buying political influence and distorting democracy. Harborne donated £9 million to Reform in 2025 alone and donations over £1m jumped from 1% in 2015 to 35% by 2024. @stellacreasy.bsky.social and @anticorruption.bsky.social are right to seek a £100k cap for all donations.

On the slide toward a UK Trump. The public wanted Johnson out because he broke the rules and so his colleagues ousted him. Farage now thinks the electorate don't care about rules and has decided to put that to the test, while his colleagues cheer him on. #BadGovernment

Why the British Political System is Breaking Down - me, talking to @cityam.bsky.social t.co/SR3EtFLZ5j

The most important ingredient in Burnham’s access talks with the civil service? Trust, which has been seriously eroded by previous govts, eg calling the civil service the Blob, with negative briefings and sackings, and lack of it contributes to #BadGovernment. Can he rebuild it?

Farage could be PM in 3 years time and this question of his funding is a wake up call that our ethics system needs strengthening eg the existence and terms of the Ministerial Code, and then decisions on when it is broken, would all be entirely up to him.

My book, published today: amazon.co.uk/Bad-Government…

Great speech by Burnham promising collaborative govt across sectors and parties; devolving more power from Westminster and Whitehall to unleash the talents and energies of everyone, driven by a long-term vision and clarity of purpose, all of which I argue for in my book, but..

Caroline Slocock@carolineslocock.bsky.social · last mo.

My book, Bad Government, starts with the promises PMs make as they enter No 10 that this time things will be better, often saying the same thing: party before country, restoring trust, bringing the country together. They know that's good govt, but soon forget.

My book, Bad Government, starts with the promises PMs make as they enter No 10 that this time things will be better, often saying the same thing: party before country, restoring trust, bringing the country together. They know that's good govt, but soon forget.

Me and Danny Finkelstein on @BBCRadio4’s Week in Westminster talking (at the end of the programme) about whether Britain is ungovernable: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

The Week in Westminster - 27/06/2026 - BBC Sounds

Radio 4's assessment of developments at Westminster

bbc.co.uk

🚨 OUT NOW 🚨 Why do we keep ditching PMs? 💼 The IFG's @hannahkeenan.bsky.social, Re:State's @jo3hill.bsky.social and former Private Secretary to two PMs @carolineslocock.bsky.social join @alaintolhurst.bsky.social to discuss what keeps going wrong at No10 🎧 Listen: pod.fo/e/43a210

And so we have another review which concludes that people weren't listened to, and where victims have had to fight hard to be heard and still wait for justice and accountability. This has happened repeatedly across many services and disasters, and it's very bad government.

When Thatcher was forced to resign she was replaced within a week, after the second round of the leadership campaign she had dropped out of elected John Major, and the next day he came in 1/8

The argument that the Tories lost the election because they so frequently changed PMs doesn't hold water. It was because they delivered such bad government that they ran into difficulty, spectacularly so in the case of Johnson and Truss - see my new book: www.amazon.co.uk/Bad-Governme...

This is the moment when individual Cabinet members will have to meet Starmer and tell him that, even though he may have their confidence, he cannot succeed. This is what happened to Thatcher in her final hours as PM, a reminder that every PM is only first amongst equals.

My book, which charts the defenestration of PMs from Thatcher to today and looks at why governments fail, has arrived just in time for the Makerfield by election and all that may follow.