He was accused of behaving more like a celebrity than a leader
Prime Minister Andy Burnham is appearing on Gogglebox (Image: Getty)
Andy Burnham has been slammed for appearing on Celebrity Gogglebox, with top Tory Jacob Rees-Mogg claiming that such behaviour is undignified and trivialises his role. Sir Jacob said on GB News: “I haven’t stopped groaning inwardly at the awfulness of it. Can you imagine any of our great figures from the past? Our noble prime ministers: Walpole, Pitt the Elder, Pitt the Younger, Palmerston, Disraeli, Gladstone, Lloyd George, terrible liberal though he was, Churchill, Thatcher, Attlee, a socialist, any of them, behaving in this unutterably undignified and fundamentally childish way.”
The former cabinet minister added: “These people, this man is meant to lead our country. He’s meant to represent us on the world stage. He is meant to have a presence in the world, in the nation, to the nation, for the nation. Instead, he behaves like some pathetic little teenager or a rock star.”
Andy Burnham is set to appear on Channel 4’s Gogglebox, becoming the first prime minister to do so.
Mr Burnham will watch the television shows of the week in a special charity episode on Friday alongside the mayor of Liverpool City Region Steve Rotheram.
A trailer for the programme shows “good friends Andy and Steve” talking about crisps inside No 10.
Mr Burnham is no stranger to light-hearted media appearances.
He has ranked pub snacks in a video alongside Chancellor John Healey, and been quizzed about his career while on a stepladder.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage appeared in a Gogglebox spin-off in 2014 while leader of Ukip.
Asked if it was unfair for Mr Burnham to appear on the show without the leaders of other parties, a spokesman for Mr Farage said: “Nigel has done it before and would happily do it again.”
But Sir Jacob said on GB News: “He’s the Prime Minister, and this is really important. There is a fundamental difference between a politician and a celebrity. If you’re a celebrity, your job is to appeal to absolutely everybody because that’s the way you sell your film.
“You fill your theatre. You get an audience for your game show. You turn out to be some great star like Marilyn Monroe. You want everyone to like you. But if you’re a politician, you have a very different job.”
The Tory politician continued: “First of all, you are following guiding lights of ideological principle to do what you think is in the nation’s interest, which other people must disagree with. If they don’t disagree with you, you have no principles. There is no purpose to you. That is the first point. You need that ideological base.
“Secondly, as Prime Minister, you have to be able to say no. Everybody in the country, every man Jack of us wants money spent on some good cause. It may be the potholes in our road. It may be tuition fees for our children. Heaven knows.
“But we have to be told ‘no, difficult decisions need to be made’.”