Dispensing Vibes

26 July 2026 Andy Burnham Zohran Mamdami Politics Populism Pablo Casado

After his election as new Labour leader, British Prime Minister-in-waiting Andy Burnham gave a speech to his fellow party members. It covered what you would expect: An appeal to depart from the previous politics, to unite the party and to deliver for its base.

But Burnham also made some bigger declarations, saying that he wants to bring back some sense of hope, to rein in inflation, and to “beat Britain’s new right”. He’s fuzzy on the details, but it seemed frank, fresh, and yes, different.

On The Guardian, Andrew Sparrow wrote a “snap verdict” of the speech that caught my eye.

It has become fashionable this week to say that all Andy Burnham has been offering recently has been “vibes”. And, if “vibes” means emotional connection, optimism and generalities rather than specifics, then that’s fair. This speech was a vibes masterclass.

But it’s a ghastly term because it’s pejorative and sneery, and it misses what politics is about. When Winston Churchill delivered his brilliant speeches during the second world war, and promised to “fight them on the beaches”, that was just vibes too. You could say the same about Martin Luther King, or Bill Clinton or Barack Obama – or almost anyone else. There was not much policy detail in “I have a dream”.

I like how that analysis cuts through the cynicism. Clearly, Burnham isn’t Churchill, and vibes aren’t sufficient in the long-term. But to get started, it’s already something: A sense of forward momentum, a willingness to make a change.

What I find missing from much of present-day politics, from centrist and democratic politicians, is that they rarely sketch out a vision. That’s never more obvious than on election posters showing just the politician’s face and party name, or in empty slogans like “Devoted to Berlin”.

Crucially, the lack of declared ambition has opened up a vacuum that the far-right is all too eager to fill. They thrive on offering “easy – and usually fake – solutions to complex problems”. And it’s hard to beat them if all you’re offering is more of the same.

In an interview with New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdami made a similar point:

For too long, it has felt like our party, the Democratic Party, the only answer we have is to say that we are not the Republican Party. The only answer we have is a response to the cruelty of the federal administration. But we also have to have a vision of what comes after this administration.

Part of Mamdami’s success is that he made his vision clear during the campaign, and that he framed it in constructive — not regressive — terms. It was vibes plus details, and it helped him win.¹

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