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Andy Burnham will fail too – Unless he identifies the foundations of proper government

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Never mind what the series of recently rather short-term renters in Number 10 Downing Street have been occupying themselves with. The main thing is they know how to take care of the cat, the apparently most enduring occupant at the residence.

One must grant it to Ben Jennings. His sketch in the Guardian on 17 July 2026 presents a piece of utterly funny, self-deprecating humour in the face of the painful fact that the country has not been able to produce one successful head-of-government during the last ten years who would have been capable to ensure the contentment of the people over at least a full-parliamentary period, a fact increasingly undermining trust in UK democracy and harming the nation.

But why exactly did the six previous PMs fail? And what must he do differently? Those are the critical questions Andy Burnham must look into, if he does not want to be the next in the line and hand over the keys to PM number eight in another two or three years’ time.

The problem of governing on the basis of personal convictions only

If we look over the series of six short-term Prime Ministers over the last ten years, one thing which they had in common is that they all governed following their own personal ideas and convictions about how to govern and to run a government. One result was David Cameron’s “Big Society” project for example, a project not thought through and born “dead in the cradle”, as even members of the Conservative Party suggested. Dominic Cummings, chief advisor of Boris Johnson, published a job advertisement calling for “weirdos and misfits with odd skills” to apply to government. Fresh ideas might be useful, but where is the structure in such an approach? And there was obviously Liz Truss, whose unusually “personal approach” to government collapsed after only six weeks.

Yes, Andy Burnham might have a different personality from his predecessors, radiating optimism and a can-do-attitude. One question we might want to ask is, why a nation would have to go through six unsuccessful heads-of-government to finally arrive at a successful one on the seventh turn only. But there, unfortunately, already are indications that Burnham is falling into the same trap as his predecessors. “I know what I want to do, working with you all“, he declared in his speech as the new leader of the Labour Party and designated new Prime Minister. “I have a plan”, he continues, “and what I also want you to know is that I won’t change. I have a style; it’s my style.”

Yet, ultimately, this is what all six unsuccessful Prime Minister’s before him had as well, a “plan” and their “style”, their “personal idea” on how to run a country and its government machinery. At first the people did put their hope in them; approval rates were high. Then their approval rates dropped, partly rapidly so. Once in office, the newly elected leaders disappointed the people and failed.

Identifying the foundations for an effective and stable government

Clearly, one cannot build a stable skyscraper without laying proper foundations for it. This is also valid for governing a nation of tens or even hundreds of millions of people in a complex world of eight billion people and for running a complex government machinery of thousands or perhaps a million people, a hugely difficult task. One cannot build a stable and effective government, without laying sound foundations and reflecting systematically and thoroughly about what governing means and requires.

But what are those foundations for effective and successful government?

Ultimately, clarifying this answer requires comprehensive consultation and the input of all relevant know-how in society.

The very first precondition, one might suggest, however, is the understanding by a head-of-state that running a nation of millions of people in a complicated world of billions of people cannot be subject to personal ideas and convictions of individual persons on how to govern. A head-of-state must be ready to investigate what sound methodical and systemic foundations for governing are. This is what we must learn from marvelling at the series of six failed, short-term  Prime Ministers in a row. (Well, they tried. Maybe that must be acknowledged.)

Second: One needs a hammer or a similar tool to drive a nail into a board. Likewise, a head-of-government needs a tool, a system, concretely a “Government Performance Optimisation System” to optimise the performance of the government machinery. It is a logical necessity. There is no way around it. A single person cannot lead a huge government machinery of thousands or perhaps a million people effectively by him- or herself. The task of this Government Performance Optimisation System must be to systematically reflect on and research the question how to govern optimally and how to make the government system perform optimally. Given the logical necessity of such a system, for any head-of-government not to install a Government Performance Optimisation System must be considered negligence in the execution of his or her duties towards their nation.

Third: Logically the first step in clarifying the foundations of proper government for the  Government Performance Optimisation System to take, must be the identification of the very best methodology or methodologies for ensuring “optimal government performance”.

One reason why the previous Prime Ministers failed is the fact that they all thought their own intelligence, experience, and personal convictions would be sufficient to run government successfully. They failed to recognise and acknowledge that our rationality including their own is “bounded”. It does not suffice to deal adequately with the huge complexity of our world. This is why we need Problem Structuring Methodologies, also called “tools for thinking” for solving complex problems, including also for determining, how to govern a nation properly. Clearly, running a nation in our complex and unhinged world is a hugely difficult task, whichever tools we might use to govern more effectively. Yet, if the six failed PMs had analysed systematically with the help of such Problem Structuring Methodologies what it means and requires “to govern properly”, they might still be in office.

One fundamental mistake which our governments make and which is the outflow of a lack of sound methodical thinking about governing is the idea that they need to preserve democracy by showing that “democracy can deliver”. US President Joe Biden expressed this reasoning in a major speech before Congress in April 2021: “We have to prove democracy still works — that our government still works and we can deliver for our people.” He failed, at least in convincing the people of his achievements, with the dire consequences for the US and the world we see. Burnham also declares: “…people are looking for us to deliver, and we will.”

But in a complex and changing world no head-of-government can wave a magic wand. No government system, however effective it may be, may be able to “deliver” what people expect, jobs, satisfactory income, low cost-of-living etc. But without a functioning democratic steering system our societies will collapse. People need to hold on to democracy, even if it fails to fulfil all their wishes. A systematic analysis of the foundations of government will show that preserving democracy must be a prime policy issue in its own right and that government must design suitable policies to achieve this aim, including an effective citizenship education system. As far as our economic well-being is concerned and the many other challenges our societies face, the only thing we can and must aim for is to make our democratic government systems perform optimally, so they are able to deal as effectively and efficiently as possible with these challenges. Even in a difficult world, one overall aim we must pursue is to maintain a co-operative and sound society on the basis of a functioning democracy.

For Andy Burnham, a “personal plan” and “aiming to deliver” will not suffice, just as it did not for his predecessors. If he wants to be successful in serving the nation, stay in office, and stabilise UK democracy, he now must establish sound foundations for his government with the help of an effective Government Performance Optimisation System. He must systematically and comprehensively think about what governing effectively means and requires. If he does not do it and, and if he, just like the previous heads-of-government, continues governing based on personal ideas and convictions only, then he is likely to fail just like them and will further weaken UK democracy and harm society. Any head-of-government in any democratic nation must optimise the performance of government for the sake of their nation, of the people, and the world.

Dear Trump Supporters, Dear Undecided Citizens of the US

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If you really want to make America great again, your strategy must be to vote for Harris and then to make the government work for all American people.

Voting for Trump in contrast threatens to utterly destroy America, and all the values America stands for in the world.

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Presently the world is crazy and unhinged. New power relationships are emerging. Dictators all over the world are inflicting havoc and destruction, they are causing suffering and death for other and their own people. Whether we believe it or not, there is at least a risk that we actually are destroying the world. Basically, all people in the world need to work together to protect it.

Now the world is looking to America, a nation which has in the past had a leading role in maintaining peace, order, and democracy in the world. Still today, Europe is grateful and indebted to the US for having under the leadership of one of its greatest, longest serving, and most cherished presidents, Franklin D. Roosevelt, played the leading role in liberating Europe from fascism. Many Americans gave their lives in this awesome battle for freedom and democracy. This to me is what the real America stands for.

Now your goal is “to make America great again”.  That is a highly valuable goal. We, all citizens around the world, should be aiming to build great, healthy, and fair nations, we all should work together to make this world  a better and more just place to be.

But what kind of leader does a nation need to become truly “great”?

It seems to me that the Founding Fathers of America themselves, when striving to build a new and prosperous nation, have already provided the clue to this question.

About 200 years ago, at the start of the US as a nation, Alexander Hamilton, a young active leader who eventually died in a duel because of his extremely high ethical principles,  and Thomas Jefferson, who later became the third president of the United States, serving  from 1801 until 1809, intensely discussed the qualifications required by the nation’s politicians and leaders. In connection with the election of a president for Columbia College, Hamilton states: “It is essential that he be a gentleman in his manner,  as well a sound and polite scholar, that his moral character be irreproachable: that he possesses energy of body and mind, and be of a disposition to maintain discipline without undue austerity; and in the last place, that his politics be of the right sort.” If a president of a college must have such qualities, they would certainly be required for the president as the top leader of the nation. Thomas Jefferson in his writing puts forward the need to find officers to work in public administration and politics “whose talents, integrity, names, and dispositions, should at once inspire unbounded confidence in the public mind, and ensure a perfect harmony in the conduct of the public business”. 

Anybody who wants to make America great again, a healthy, strong and sound nation,  must look for leaders who possess these exact qualities. The fate of the nation depends on having a leader of high moral values.

Nobody is perfect. But if you look closely, you will see that Donald Trump does by no means at all fulfil the criteria specified by these two Founding Fathers. To the very contrary, if you look closely, you see that he is a man of the vilest character. Even many people who once were prepared to work under him confirm it. The one thing Donald Trump is extremely good at is manipulating people for his own aims. Please, look behind his façade, you do not want to be led astray by the pied piper. A down-to-earth gentleman from Maine, I know well, ninety-six years of age, a man of a generally traditional outlook on life who served in the Air Force and studied engineering on the GI bill, plainly and simply calls Donal Trump a “jerk”. Trust in the old man. Electing a person of such dubious and low character as Trump involves the greatest risk to utterly destroy the nation.

Clearly, a person who boasts about “grabbing” women by their genitals is despicable and no gentleman at all. One might consider such statements pub talk. But a person of that standard is by no means  suited as a leader of a great nation, he is by no means suited as a role model for the young generation of a great nation. Do you really want the great United States, the first democracy of the world in modern times, with this astounding Declaration of Independence to be represented in the world by a person of such manners and abject, low character?

If we want to build great and sound nations, if we want to build a better and fair world, we need leaders of true and high integrity.

Jefferson emphasizes the need for leaders “whose talents, integrity, names, and dispositions, should at once inspire unbounded confidence in the public mind, and ensure a perfect harmony in the conduct of the public business”. 

If you check these demands, it becomes clear that Donald Trump does not match any of them at all. Even if you were to disagree with this observation, the criterion “names”, i.e. the reputation of a person, would tell you that you cannot vote for him. If half of the US population and the citizens around the world looking on get into a state of the greatest panic in fear of Trump being elected, if they completely doubt his suitability and qualification, that would at least need to make you worried; you cannot elect him. That is what Jefferson says.

The large majority of US citizens loved Franklin D. Roosevelt. “By God, if it ain’t old Frank“, shouted a worker in a Detroit tank manufacturing firm, when Roosevelt surprisingly drove though the factory on a visit during WWII. “The President laughed with delight and waved his hat at the man”, describes Doris Kearns Goodwin the scene. Donald Trump divides the nation instead of unifying it. Such a conflict arising out of the election would weaken and harm the US. If you want to make America sound and healthy, you need a leader who unites the nation.

How then to make government work for the people?

This is the second crucial and decisive issue for the country, next to voting for a leader of high integrity.

Presently you may not trust government, you may not trust the so called establishment. But the solution cannot be to vote for a single person who promises us to believe that he is the great man who can fix everything for us. Our world of eight billion people is far too complex for this. New developments occur in the world which are hard to control and influence for any government. Anybody who promises us to be able to fix all our problems is instantly highly suspicious. He is either an absolutely dangerous fool or a criminal aiming to mislead us.

The thought of people voting for Trump reminds me of people in Germany suffering in the terrible economic crisis of the 1930s. They voted for Hitler, a person who painstakingly practiced his way of seducing the people in front of a mirror and who in rousing speeches made people believe that he could fix all their problems. People did put their hopes in him, but as a result of the chaos and utter destruction he unleashed over the world, much of humanity suffered and more than fifty million people died. Currently the world is under threat. We cannot afford such havoc. We need cooperative leaders and most importantly government systems of the highest capacity to bring the world back on track. We as citizens must demand governments of such high performance and quality.

What is the way to make America great again?

Dear Trump supporters, dear undecided US citizens,

To make America great again, vote for a leader of high integrity, and then work with that leader to make the American government work truly and effectively for all American people.

Let history, Hitler and his madness to make Germany the most powerful nation on earth be a terrible warning sign for you. Such madness will destroy America.

If you want to make America great again, vote for Harris and Walz, a man of the people. You must change from being actual or potential Trump supporters to being Harris/Walz supporters.

Give them a chance, strike a deal with them!

Tell them, if we vote for you, then you must promise to make the American government the best government America ever had in its history. A government which truly works for all American people.

Ask Harris, whether she promises to make her government the best America has ever had in its history.

Then vote for Harris and Walz.

This is the right strategy to make America great again.

It is decisive for America and for America’s standing and leadership role in the world.