MAIL ON SUNDAY COMMENT: Clumsy Burnham has embarrassed the King - and himself - over slavery

Published: 19:43 EDT, 31 October 2026 | Updated: 19:46 EDT, 31 October 2026 Who and what does Andy Burnham think he is? He continues to act in many ways as if he were still a mayor, shooting from the hip to stay in the news, rather than PM.As Prime Minister, he is the head of government. He is in charge of a whole country, keeping it safe from threats abroad and from crime and disorder at home. His most pressing concern just now must surely be an economy in dire need of reform, though he has put that project off, perhaps in the hope that it will somehow go away.It will not. So why now make a cack-handed and risky intervention on the issue of reparations for slavery? He must know that meetings of Commonwealth heads of government (CHOGM) are an increasingly awkward experience for King Charles. This is especially so when the meeting is in the Caribbean, where the issue of slavery is most keenly debated. It is quite clear that the King will be under pressure to say something about it.During his visits to the Bahamas and Guyana last week the King was exposed to fierce rhetoric on the subject. He knows how delicate the issue is and copes with his usual charm.But he is debarred, by his constitutional role, from engaging forthrightly in this debate. It is an unpleasantly awkward position for him to be in, over several days when he must watch every word, gesture and facial expression. Under such circumstances, it is difficult to make CHOGM look like a happy family of friendly nations if it is also being used as a stage on which to strongarm this country into making huge compensation payments for slavery. Andy Burnham chairing a meeting of the National Economic Council in Glasgow on FridayFor we may be sure that, if the King were to issue the apology now being demanded, he would instantly be told it was not enough.In such debates, concessions are immediately pocketed, while new ones are swiftly demanded. Meanwhile, the United Nations has also been mobilised on this issue, creating another minefield for our diplomats trying to avoid serious difficulties.PMs, Labour ones included, have so far fought off the demand for an apology. They know where it would lead.In 2024, before the Samoa CHOGM, Sir Keir Starmer said neither an apology nor payments would be made. So what does Mr Burnham think he is doing offering, in the Guardian newspaper, a ‘structured dialogue’ on the subject and saying that ‘listening to formal calls for an apology on behalf of the British State will form an important part of this process’?Yet he also correctly says that reparations are not the right answer and rightly declares that the British people of today cannot be held responsible for historical wrongs in another age in which they played no part.This is all very well but even the Guardian admits that he has gone further than any previous Premier towards offering an apology.This will increase, not relax, the pressure to give way on reparations. It cuts the ground from under the King’s feet.Britain literally cannot afford this sort of behaviour. Mr Burnham must grasp that he has higher, tougher responsibilities, and weigh his words much more carefully.