The Avanti West Coast line between Manchester Piccadilly and London Euston is a well-worn route for British Jews, providing a vital rail link between the homes of the country’s largest and second-largest Jewish communities.
As someone who lives in Manchester but has family, friends and work commitments in London, I know the journey all too well. Not least the delays, cancellations, sticky tables, AWOL drivers (yes, really), incidents on the line and a timetable that is more suggestion than commitment. Often, the experience is about as enjoyable as a bowl of cold chicken soup.
So good luck if Andy Burnham thinks he can seamlessly shuttle between Manchester and London when he presses ahead with No 10 “Oop North”.
Unless the presumptive PM is prepared to fall out with his eco-zealous pal Ed Miliband and travel between the two cities by helicopter, Burnham will be spending an awful lot of his premiership trapped on this dysfunctional line.
Should we be surprised that Burnham hasn't factored the misery of Avanti West Coast into his dreams of devolved government? Not really, since it`s a parable for his impending premiership. Burnham sells his vision through painful platitudes. (As a Mancunian, the performative gimmickry of “Manchesterism” is a particular bucket of cringe.) Yet beyond the slogans there’s no evidence of detailed thinking, robust research or serious planning.
It`s not just an issue for the coachloads of civil servants and political aids who may find themselves stranded on the track thanks to leaves or sheep on the line.
If he can’t fix domestic arrangements, how on earth can Burnham be trusted with the complexities of foreign policy? Particularly, and of profound concern to UK Jewry, when it comes to Gaza, Israel and the Middle East?
Yet suddenly, the politician whose career until a few weeks ago revolved around buses, trams and devolved transport budgets, believes he’s now qualified to lecture on one of the world’s most intractable conflicts.
In a tin-eared social media video a few days ago, Burnham took it upon himself to apologise for Labour’s response to Gaza shortly after October 7 and the government’s slow call for a ceasefire.
A deplorable stance, since a ceasefire would have suggested parity between Israel, a sovereign nation under attack, and Hamas, a genocidal terrorist group.
Repeating this now risks further inflaming anti-Israel narratives and so giving permission and legitimate cause for Jew haters to carry out their grievous attacks on our community in the UK.
But what, exactly, qualifies a man who until a month ago had spent a decade away from Westminster, to make these pronouncements? Nothing.
Yet already the signals are clear that under a Burnham premiership, Britain will adopt a tougher stance towards Israel.
Only a month early he was at least more ambivalent when asked about [baseless accusations] that Israel was committing genocide. Then he claimed he was “too far away” to judge.
Now, with No 10 tantalisingly within his grasp, and perhaps in an attempt to appease the party’s hard-left flank and woo back voters lost to the Greens, any previous uncertainty appears to have disappeared.
In his video message last week, Burnham declared that there was “increasing evidence” of war crimes by Israel, accompanied by the feeble acknowledgement that only international courts can determine allegations of genocide. What he failed to add, for the record, is that none have been established.
But engaging with detail – or demonstrating a genuine grasp of it – appears to be something Burnham is either unwilling or unable to do.
That he isn’t prepared to get across Israel’s position is all the more disheartening given that, as Greater Manchester’s mayor, he is familiar with our community up here.
He showed solidarity, for example, following the murderous terrorist attack on my family’s synagogue, Heaton Park. Welcome, of course.
But what was the point if Burnham can’t join the dots?
Attacks on Jewish communities in this country have spiralled since October 7. Demonising Israel, which our PM-to-be is doing, can only inflame the narrative.
No decent person disputes or deplores the appalling humanitarian suffering of innocent civilians in war, including Gaza.
Equally it is vital that governments engage in legitimate criticism where necessary.But Burnham’s latest ill-informed and unsubstantiated video on Israel goes beyond legitimate political criticism.
Instead, he falls back on the paper-thin playbook of calling for further sanctions and possible trade restrictions against a UK ally, without first engaging with the complexities and details.
Why, for example, does he not ask why Hamas spent millions building a vast network of tunnels to pursue its destructive agenda, yet invested nothing in air raid shelters to protect the civilian population it governs?
The answer is that he appears either unwilling or unable to master the brief and examine the detail. Perhaps that is inconvenient when the political calculation is to appeal to the hard left.
If British Jewry is to trust the new prime minister we need proof he will govern with substance not soundbites.
Perhaps, during the inevitable hours he will spend marooned on the Manchester-London line, he should use the time to reflect on that.
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