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Michael Murphy: Andy Burnham's empty promise to 'do more' for the British people

New U.K. prime minister cartoonishly blames neoliberalism for the country's problems

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As of last week, a British 10-year-old will have lived through seven prime ministers. Each arrived promising a fresh start only to leave the country worse off — economically and socially — than when they took office. It is under that cloud of false starts and disappointments that Andy Burnham, formerly mayor of Greater Manchester, arrived at Downing Street last Monday as the man pledging to turn things around.

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Burnham is self-consciously unorthodox. Eschewing the lecterns that have traditionally marked the coming and going of prime ministers, he opted for two short, stabby........

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