ANDY Burnham has embraced social media influencer culture at the beginning of his premiership, but that hasn’t translated into trust.
The Prime Minister has evidently taken inspiration from content creators to form his own political brand in order to come across as more authentic.
But according to an exclusive poll conducted for The National by Find Out Now more than 70% of Scots said they don't trust the new Prime Minister to stand up for Scotland when don't knows are removed. Meanwhile, just 28% say they do trust him.
Chatting into a handheld phone and answering supposedly spontaneous questions in a format outside of a traditional news interview will certainly appeal to politicians who don’t want to be held to account.
It’s part of a recent shift in political comms in Downing Street that, even under Keir Starmer, sought to court content creators in an attempt to reach voters who don’t get their news from TV or newspapers.
Under Starmer, one of the press lobby briefings was dropped to accommodate creator briefings instead. Despite repeated Freedom of Information requests by The National, the Cabinet Office has refused to release the names of the influencers who were invited.
We asked because it seemed that while getting to go inside Number 10 was a coup for the influencers themselves, none of the policies that the UK Government tried to funnel through their chosen pet creators seemed to cut through.
Despite Starmer’s best efforts, he wasn’t exactly a natural fit for social media, which probably had something to do with it.
Burnham is somewhat of a different beast; and clearly knows his audience. His more informal style has certainly seen his and the Labour Party’s popularity rating go up, and he's even been referred to as a "TikTok PM", unfortunately.
But we are in the middle of summer recess, most of the announcements of the Burnham era have been positive, and we haven’t seen the detail on how he is going to deliver on his promises to end rough sleeping, cap bus travel, and whatever else he offers up to the public before Westminster returns.
And on Number 10 North, the majority of voters living in the actual north of the UK – not the middle – think that it is “just a gimmick” that will make little difference. Only 28% think it is a “meaningful step” towards spreading political power more evenly across the UK.
It’s no surprise that the Cabinet Office was offering some plus salaries for social media jobs when it was first announced – up to £68,558 for a lead social producer and a social strategy lead. That’s more than double the median annual salary, around £32,890, for all employees in the UK.
Let’s be real; so far this has been a premiership based solely on vibes and clever editing.
Burnham didn’t have to do much to turn things around, simply drop the negativity of the Starmer era and try to frame things in a better light. In a world when we all have cameras in our pockets and social media bandwagons to jump on, the Prime Minister wasted no time in diving in and curating his online presence.
That, however, has not made the problems that Starmer, Labour and the UK face go away.
Avoiding the press who will scrutinise Burnham’s decisions and how he plans to deliver them while embracing social media influencers who count views and engagement rather than the pennies in the public purse, is a tactic that will only suffice for so long.
Burnham has taken one leaf out of his predecessor’s book and refused to engage on the democratic route to independence by declaring that any talk of a referendum is “off limits”.
But voters can clearly see through the glare of the phone screen and realise that this Prime Minister, at least where Scotland is concerned, will be exactly like the last.
