Forget this ludicrous listening tour, Andy Burnham... Get on with running Britain

Right under Burnham’s nose, these dinghies have doubled in size and are twice as dangerous. One of them carries the same number of passengers on a jumbo jet. And now one, or more, of those will be arriving here daily, which means hundreds more people will want houses, benefits and healthcare we cannot afford.

As France’s lifeboat service says, there is now no limit to how many people the smugglers will pack onto these new vessels because 230-plus people on board means half a million quid profit for the trafficker.

So, what is our new, touchy-feely Prime Minister – just back from his jolly hols – doing while these illegals are flooding our beaches shouting: “Where’s the free houses?"

Well, Mr "Man of the People" is not actually doing anything. He is going on what his No10 team calls a "Listening Tour of Britain" because he wants to find out what is worrying people.

Has he had his head down a manhole for the past year? He must know Britons' number one worry is out-of-control illegal immigration. Even this week, a poll said nearly 50 per cent now see immigration as bad for Britain. So why does Andy have to go on this ludicrous tour to find that out when it is staring him in the face>

Or is this just a Selective Listening Tour, meaning he will only go to towns and cities he already knows are on side and where tame, diehard Labour voters will agree with everything he says he wants to do?

What is it going to take to shake this bloke out of his stupefaction so that he actually starts doing something – instead of just talking about it? He has been desperate for the job in Downing Street for two decades. Now he has got it, he seems paralysed and is ducking all the major problems.

Every speech he has ever made has studiously avoided the subject of immigration. He has also avoided the £3trillion debt and the humongous benefits bill.

So why isn’t he using August while Parliament is on holiday to make plans, to get things done? Why is he wasting precious time going on this farcical tour which is nothing but an ego exercise designed to get people saying "what a nice bloke" whilst achieving bugger all for Britain?

Burnham needs to learn being liked is not what being a good prime minister is all about.

And why has he got nothing to say about the migrant crisis? Why is he just trotting out tired old platitudes about how awful it all is and mumbling about safe routes?

Does he realise the people on that super dinghy last weekend are not the sort who would use safe routes? Those routes are for genuine refugees and asylum seekers, not the mobs on those boats who are chancers and criminals who want to come here for the free houses and benefits.

And if he really wants to stop the boats, why not do it at the source? China manufactures most of them and then they are shipped through countries like Turkey and Bulgaria to European staging posts – mostly Germany.

So, if we know all that, why doesn’t Burnham and why isn’t he doing something to stop it? Talk to China and intercept the transport of these dinghies before they are ever brought to France by the smugglers. Stop the boats before they ever make it into the water.

But no, Burnham and his Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood would rather just throw millions at the French and hope to God they do what we do not have the guts to.

The truth is Mr Eyelash does not want to actually do anything to stop the boats. He thinks it is enough just saying he wants to. Well, it is not.

If he thinks the British people do not see this ridiculous tour is just a way to avoid him doing what needs to be done, he is more daft than he looks.

We can see it is just performative politics from a bloke who does not know what the Hell to do. He is still behaving like a mayor – travelling around his little principality, glad-handing people and getting reaffirmation about how much he is loved.

Well, forget all that. It is time he started leading this country and making the tough decisions that might well be unpopular with his party but will be incredibly good for the British people.

The trouble is Burnham knows if he does try to curb illegal immigration and if he refuses to water down Mahmood's tough migration reforms, there will be a backbench rebellion. And he is scared whatever he does will be blocked in the Commons and Lords, which is packed to the rafters with rabid Lefties.

So, he has not been in the job a month yet and already the Left have him by the short and curlies over immigration.

Now is the time to make a decision. Is he going to be like Sir Keir Starmer – pathetically doing the Left’s bidding to hang onto his job? Or is he going to be the leader he promised us he would be?

I think I know the answer because I have seen him in operation as a junior minister and as a full-blown Cabinet minister. Back then, he was lacklustre, indecisive and ineffective. I do not think anything has changed.

If Burnham’s ever going to be even a half-decent prime minister, he needs to understand ordinary, hard-working Britons are terrified of illegal immigration. It is not just the financial cost, which is crippling us. They see hordes of young men being parachuted into small communities. They see crime – particularly sex crimes – rocketing, and they see this Government is never going to be on their side but always on the side of the illegal migrants, some of whom think they can rape and abuse at will.

One of the biggest criticisms of Sir Keir was no one knew what he stood for or what he thought about anything.

Well, Burnham is shaping up to be just a more genial version of him. And that is never going to be enough to get this country out of the toilet.

Burnham needs to forget this ludicrous listening tour, stop avoiding the big issues and get on with the serious job of running this country.