Andy Burnham's "New Look Cabinet"? Welcome to the Old Look! With few exceptions, the exact same faces have trooped back into the Cabinet Office!

    First among them is John Healey, the "Brutus", who stabbed his former boss in the back - apparently, over that "underfunded" defence budget. Or was this just part of the plot to replace Starmer? And do we really care?

    As new Chancellor, Healey now has the job of finding these extra defence pennies himself. Or more precisely, of deciding what to cut, in order to find them, since he and his new boss are religiously "respecting the fiscal rules" set by outgoing "Sir" Keir and Rachel Reeves!

    This is what strikes one immediately. These self-imposed fiscal limits - repeated like a Catholic catechism by two choir-boys - which simply means that austerity rules!

    For "change", as Burnham pledged several times over, the rules and the manifesto promises would have to be broken. It would mean taxing the rich: squeezing them "till the pips squeak" - in order to fund social care, house the homeless, end rough sleeping, and do all the other things that Burnham talks about.

Squeaking pips?

It was the current Chancellor's namesake, Dennis Healey - James Callaghan's Chancellor when Labour was in power in the 1970s - who famously promised to "squeeze property speculators until the pips squeak". In October 1973 he said "I warn you that there are going to be howls of anguish from those rich enough to pay over 75% on their last slice of earnings". However he never dared to do any of it. And the two Labour Chancellors since then - Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling, didn't either.

    Today no such threats are even made. On the contrary, we're told that ministers are all going to behave themselves. Under no circumstances are the bond markets to be given even the slightest reason to twitch! In fact one wonders why they bother to have Treasury ministers at all; why not just co-opt the stock exchange?

    On Wednesday it felt very much like Ground Hog Day. Transport Secretary (still-in-post), Heidi Alexander, was sent to do the rounds of the newsrooms. This time her job was to explain how "Andy" really does want to help us all with the cost of living. And how that 45 quid off energy bills (in October) and £2 cap on bus fares, are just a "taster"; more is on its way...

    Very helpfully, journalists from all and sundry media kept asking how this is all going to be funded, informing new {and old) government ministers that the money just isn't there. Along these lines, an episode of "Dead Ringers" on BBC radio, called for Burnham's immediate resignation for his failure to change anything so far - the same day he was appointed Labour leader!

    Of course squaring a circle is impossible. If Andy Burnham is going to "help the working class", as people who were interviewed by the BBC in Manchester asked of him, he can only do so at the expense of the bosses and their sacred profit system. Quite obviously, he will not.

Out with the profiteers!

Anyway, judging from his "achievements" in Manchester, Burnham's expertise lies in quite the opposite direction. Behind all the glowing reports of how he "changed the face of Manchester", (if building tall skyscrapers and luxury offices and apartments was the kind of change Mancunians wanted, or needed} is the reality of his revival of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown's so-called Public Private Parnerships.

    But in this case, most contracts and loans were awarded to just one construction company - Renaker - whose boss, Daren Whitaker, has "acquired" a fortune of £700m (according to the Sunday Times Rich List) and a (tax-free) address in Monaco!

    Private Eye writes, "over the past decade the group has borrowed more than £600m from the Housing Investment Loans Fund of Greater Manchester Combined Authority - led since 2017 by regional mayor Andy Burnham - to build structures such the city's tallest, 65-storey, tower at Deansgate Square". It seems Whitaker's pips are certainly overdue for a very sharp squeeze, if he can be found!

    That said, the real issue facing workers isn't what Burnham does or doesn't do as PM or his kissy relationships with big business. And we certainly have no illusions that he will help our class! He works for, and defends the same system we are up against.

    Undoubtedly - just like in the crisis of the 1970s, things are going to get tough. We need to prepare to face up to this, by gathering our forces and preparing to fight collectively for our interests. And always remembering that our strength is in our numbers and our determination to fight to the end... with the ultimate aim not just of rocking the capitalist boat, but sinking it!