‘What, A New One?’ Care Home Resident’s Hilarious PM Meeting

A care home resident’s honest reaction to meeting Andy Burnham left the prime minister looking a little embarrassed on Wednesday.

The PM announced his plan to overhaul the social care sector yesterday before speaking to several pensioners to promote his ideas.

But one encounter – caught on camera by Channel 4 – quickly went awry.

“You are the local candidate, are you?” The man said.

“Oh no,” Burnham said, smiling. “No I was a local candidate, I had a by-election a few weeks ago. But, I’m now the prime minister.”

“You what?” The man said.

“He’s the prime minister,” someone else told him.

“What, a new one?” The pensioner with incredulity.

Burnham nodded, adding: “Yes, another one.”

“They keep changing every five minutes!” The man said, and the PM laughed.

The encounter was reminiscent of the viral TV moment when a woman, known only as Brenda from Bristol, reacted with nothing but shock when she found out Theresa May had called a snap election in 2017.

She said: “You’re joking – not another one!”

Her response was not unwarranted, as it came after the 2016 referendum on EU membership and the 2015 general election.

Similarly, Burnham is the UK’s seventh prime minister in a decade.

David Cameron stepped down as PM after the country voted to leave the EU in 2016 and Theresa May quit in 2019 over not being able to get a Brexit deal through the Commons.

Boris Johnson called a snap election in 2019 when he took over from May, but was kicked out of office in 2022.

His successor Liz Truss spent less than two months before the Tories forced her to resign over her mini-Budget.

Rishi Sunak was then voted out in the 2024 general election and Keir Starmer quit this summer after it was clear he had lost the support of Labour MPs.

Burnham was the Greater Manchester mayor up until he won the Makerfield by-election in June, and was the only Labour MP to put his name forward to replace Starmer.

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