It's funny by any ordinary metric he has had a reasonable Premiership and 20 years ago would surely have seen a term out, but he is just such a bad 'politician' that ultimately he couldn't continue in the modern political landscape. Popularity is important.
That said I don't even feel much of a sense of occasion here, being PM is now akin to being a football manager. I doubt anyone without a vice like grip of their own party can now survive much longer than 3 years.
Strategically I reckon Labour have made a massive mistake going so early, there is no doubt Starmer could not lead them into the next GE but Burnham or whoever follows will be close to Starmer level unpopularity within 3 years, it is simply inevitable with the current state of the country, it needed to be within a year of a General Election for them to have any hope.
Burnham offers very little different to Starmer too (that I have seen at least), so this will be a big test of whether or not the country can be persuaded by a jovial northern accent and a bit of charm. I hope he gets a proper leadership challenge, he has only offered hot air so far so he desperately needs some scrutiny rather than being handed the job on a platter.
By the way Burnham (if he wins) ****ing hates the South of England, so good luck for all of us over the next couple of years while we get lumped in with Greater London for everything bad.
Time for Chris Mason, GB News, Telegraph, Daily Mail, Elon Musk etc to get sharpening their knives for the next one.