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Plus: why is a bat's life worth more than yours, and the socialist case for luxury flats

Jul 17, 2026

He’s certainly not the heir to Blair. Andy Burnham was confirmed as Labour leader today, and used his acceptance speech to take a swing at both Margaret Thatcher and the market-friendly tone of New Labour. He said ‘Britain took a series of wrong turns in the 1980s’, and promised he had a plan to do things differently. Not too differently, please.

Eamonn Butler@eamonnbutler

A reminder, Andy, of the Thatcher era: •⁠ ⁠Income tax: 83% → 40% •⁠ ⁠Basic rate: 33% → 25% •⁠ ⁠Inflation: 21.9% peak (1980) → 2.4% (1986) •⁠ ⁠Days lost to strikes: 29.5 million (1979) → 1.9 million (1990) •⁠ ⁠Real pay for the average earner: up by a third

11:10 AM · Jul 17, 2026 · 177K Views

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Burnham also vowed to end party in-fighting and factionalism, but behind-the-scenes rows about who should get which Cabinet job already tell another story. Those pushing for Ed Miliband as Chancellor certainly haven’t got the memo.

Below you’ll find all the latest pieces from CapX, plus what we’re reading from around the web.

Marc Sidwell
Editor, CapX

Today’s Takes

Fresh thinking from CapX

This is the speech Burnham needs to give

Shanker Singham

‘While my opponents claim to be business-friendly, or the party of business, I stand for free exchange, for wealth creation, for the markets that drive innovation and for poverty alleviation.’

There’s a speech Andy Burnham could give on day one as PM that would unite the country around a shared vision of prosperity, without abandoning Labour principles. It would credit Paul Keating’s Australia and Roger Douglas’s New Zealand, promise an end to cronyism in the name of capitalism and celebrate wealth creation as the best way to end poverty. Read More

Britain's batty rules on who gets to live

John Penrose

‘Why are we spending so much more cash on saving the lives of some humans and animals than others?’

This week, Natural England quietly backed down on plans that could have seen 90% of Dartmoor’s ponies culled. The ponies may be safe, but their case reveals a bigger problem: Britain spends more to save a bat or a spider than it does to keep a patient alive in the NHS. But there’s a simple fix. Read More

Stat of the day

Best of the Web

Burnham's ridiculous plan to reverse Thatcherism

Ross Clark, The Spectator

‘Burnham told us “I have a plan”. Yet again, however, there was not a shred of detail on what that plan will be, except perhaps what we know already: he doesn’t like privatised buses.’

Andy Burnham’s line that Britain has been on the wrong track since Thatcher is already beginning to grate. It might have been appropriate for Labour’s 1997 election campaign. Delivering it today is a little ridiculous – Burnham has no plan and no mandate, not a great basis for reversing 40 years of anything. Read More

The end of Peel's police?

Dominic Adler, The Critic

‘Robert Peel, mindful of events in revolutionary France, established our police in 1829 to be as uncontinental as possible. This ethos is now viewed as sclerotic and, of course, too expensive.’

Shabana Mahmood has invoked the spirit of Dixon of Dock Green – while proposing a policing model Robert Peel would have hated. Her ‘mini police forces’ give the Home Office political control over policing while dodging responsibility for the results. Read More