England’s football triumph masks Burnham’s undemocratic path to power, says Littlejohn

In his Daily Mail column, Richard Littlejohn attacks the prospect of Andy Burnham becoming Prime Minister without a general election, characterising it as an "anti-democratic coup". Writing against the backdrop of England's World Cup semi-final or final win over Mexico at the Azteca Stadium, he argues that the sporting celebrations are distracting the public from a constitutional matter he considers deeply troubling: an unelected leader taking power on the strength of a single by-election win in Makerfield, near Wigan.

Littlejohn objects in particular to reports that Burnham plans to scrap the first-past-the-post voting system in a way that could permanently block Reform UK or the Conservatives from forming a government, asking who gave him a mandate to do so. Drawing a contrast with a July 4 trip to Florida for the World Cup, he praises American patriotism and democratic norms, arguing that Americans "rally round the flag" and that any attempt to remove a serving US president mid-term and install an unelected mayor would spark uproar. He also complains that overt displays of British patriotism now risk being treated as far-right.