The ultimate fantasy for Michael Gove has finally been realised — but only on screen. The former cabinet minister will star as Prime Minister in a new docudrama, The Wargame, in which the UK is at war with Russia and Nicola Sturgeon serves as his deputy. The show, described as a doomsday scenario, fulfills a long-held dream for Gove to occupy No 10, even in fiction.
While Gove tackles a fictional war, the real political landscape is shifting. Andy Burnham, the former Manchester mayor, is set to return to Parliament on Monday as the newly elected MP for Makerfield, winning a landslide majority of more than 9,000 votes. His path to No 10 is now clearer than ever, but questions linger over what he truly believes.
“Michael Gove stars as PM in doomsday drama as Andy Burnham returns to Parliament with clear path to No 10.”
Burnham has taken nuanced positions on key issues. On immigration, he is understood to back Shabana Mahmood’s controversial reforms — which include ending permanent refugee status and removing support from asylum seekers deemed not in need — and is rumoured to keep her in his cabinet if he becomes PM. Yet publicly, he has sounded critical. In a Radio 4 interview on 20 November, he said: “I do have a concern about leaving people without the ability to settle… it may leave people in a sense of limbo and unable to integrate.” During the campaign, he shifted, telling an interviewer on 9 June: “It’s this thing about control, isn’t it? … People want it to be dealt with. We do need to go further.” He added: “We need to make greater use of detention so that people who have got no basis for a claim are not actually admitted to the country.”
On the economy, Burnham has called Britain’s situation a “low growth doom loop” and argued the country is “in hock to the bond markets,” as he told the New Statesman in September and the Institute for Fiscal Studies in January. Yet after the Makerfield by-election was announced, he said on 18 May: “I support the fiscal rules. There needs to be a plan to get debt down.” He has committed to keeping the triple lock on the state pension and initially appeared to back compensation for the Waspi women.
Meanwhile, a Unite union boss has urged Burnham not to make Ed Miliband his Chancellor, as rumours swirl that the former Labour leader could be appointed. If Burnham does make it to No 10, he will have to navigate internal splits — much like Gove’s fictional war, but with real consequences.