Burnham Under Fire for Holiday Two Weeks into Office
Andy Burnham has left for a summer holiday abroad just two weeks into his premiership, drawing criticism from opponents who accused him of taking a break amid mounting pressures on prisons and the borders. Downing Street insisted the government would “function as normal”, with the Deputy Prime Minister, Louise Haigh, in charge. The timing raised eyebrows across the political spectrum.
Prime ministers are entitled to holidays, and modern communications mean they are never truly off duty, but the optics of a brand-new leader departing so soon — with the Channel crisis, a prisons squeeze and an unresolved Iran war in the background — handed his critics an easy target. Mr Burnham’s allies argue he has packed more into a fortnight than some manage in months, and is entitled to a rest. Opponents called it “bunking off”. The row is unlikely to last, but it is an early lesson in the relentless scrutiny of the job. Watch whether anything forces him to cut the break short.