Andy Burnham

Morning Star Editorial: Unison’s Andrea Egan speaks truth to power

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/unisons-andrea-egan-speaks-truth-power

 Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers his keynote speech during the Labour Party Conference at the ACC Liverpool, September 30, 2025

NEW Unison general secretary Andrea Egan has done a service to the entire labour movement. Barely a week in office, she has spelt out exactly what is wrong with the Starmer government, and what needs to change.

We make no apology for quoting her words, written for Tribune, extensively. First the crisis: “The first far-right government in our history is a very real prospect. Nigel Farage in power would be the biggest triumph for the enemies of the working class since his idol Margaret Thatcher took office… 

“It would be a global victory for a billionaire-backed ethnonationalist project represented by the administration of Donald Trump…for every worker, active trade unionist or anyone who wants to live in an open and democratic society, the political stakes of the coming months and years are potentially existential. We are staring down the barrel of a historically devastating offensive against our class.”

Then, the blame: “From witnessing the recent behaviour of Labour’s ruling faction, you wouldn’t know it. Spearheaded from Downing Street, this narrow Westminster grouping often gives the impression it would rather hand the country over to Farage and put the labour movement’s survival on the line than consider any change in policy direction or lose the slightest control over the party machine.”

Egan slams the “stitch-up” which blocked Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham from standing in the Gorton and Denton by-election, with the reasons offered “an insult to the intelligence.”

Then the warning: “Trade unions will not tolerate this self-destructive approach any longer. The costs are simply too high, and it is our members — our whole movement — who will pay the price. 

“Labour’s rotten internal culture is a significant cause of its failure to deliver for workers while in government, which in turn drives its historic unpopularity and lays the ground for the far right.

…

Original article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/unisons-andrea-egan-speaks-truth-power

Nigel Farage blames the Muzzies.
Nigel Farage blames the Muzzies.
Keir Starmer confirms that his government is cnutier than Suella Braverman on killing the right to protest.
Keir Starmer confirms that his government is cnutier than Suella Braverman on killing the right to protest.
Continue ReadingMorning Star Editorial: Unison’s Andrea Egan speaks truth to power

Muslim Voter Group To Endorse Greens In Gorton And Denton By-Election

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https://www.politicshome.com/news/article/muslim-voter-group-to-endorse-greens-in-gorton-and-denton-by-election

[PoliticsHome] Exclusive: A pressure group focused on who Muslims should support in elections will endorse the Green Party in Gorton and Denton.

The Muslim Vote, set up in late 2023, endorsed the four independent candidates who were elected at the 2024 general election on campaigns centred on the war in Gaza. They were Shockat Adam, Adnan Hussain, Ayoub Khan and Iqbal Mohammed.

The group has told PoliticsHome that it will support the Green candidate in the upcoming contest to replace Andrew Gwynne, who has resigned as a Labour MP for health reasons.

The party is yet to select its candidate, but the New Statesman reported over the weekend that it will not be leader Zack Polanski. The Greater Manchester seat has a significant Muslim population.

This will remain the case even if George Galloway’s Workers’ Party decides to contest the seat, the group said. The party came fourth in Gorton and Denton in 2024, and Galloway has historically enjoyed high levels of support among Muslim voters.

PoliticsHome understands that the Muslim Vote was open to supporting the candidacy of Andy Burnham in the event of the Greater Manchester Mayor being the Labour candidate.

However, on Sunday, Burnham’s desire to stand was rejected by members of Labour’s ruling national executive committee (NEC), including Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

…

Article continues at https://www.politicshome.com/news/article/muslim-voter-group-to-endorse-greens-in-gorton-and-denton-by-election

Keir Starmer justifies why he has to travel abroad so much
Keir Starmer justifies why he has to travel abroad so much
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza's hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.

Continue ReadingMuslim Voter Group To Endorse Greens In Gorton And Denton By-Election

Blocking Burnham, Starmer’s cowardly control-freaks are wrecking their own party

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/blocking-burnham-starmers-cowardly-control-freaks-are-wrecking-their-own-party

 Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer (left) and Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham, during a meeting with English regional mayors, at No 10 Downing Street in Westminster, central London, July 9, 2024

IT’S a truism that the Labour right would rather see the party lose than win from the left.

But the Starmer clique’s decision to bar Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham from contesting the Gorton & Denton by-election shows paranoid factionalism on another level.

Burnham is not even on the socialist left of the party: this is an act of cowardice by a PM who fears a challenge to his leadership, and is prepared to risk a Labour seat falling to Reform UK rather than face him.

For Burnham was certainly the party’s best bet for winning the by-election, in a seat where the context of the last MP’s departure — Andrew Gwynne was embroiled in a scandal over expletive-laden text messages telling elderly constituents he hoped they would “croak” before long — can only add to the stench of out-of-touch arrogance that suffuses Labour.

Burnham is popular, a vanishingly rare quality among Labour politicians now. This fact will not be lost on MPs concluding that Starmer needs to go if the party is to have a hope of avoiding electoral annihilation.

The excuse given for his exclusion — that an early mayoral election to replace him would be inconvenient and costly — hardly matters. Not one person will believe it.

After all Starmer has form: stitch-ups are his stock in trade. Unlike former leaders of the Labour right like Tony Blair — or possible future ones like Wes Streeting — he has no political vision giving him confidence to seek to persuade people of his case. He lied his way to the leadership then excluded its left through expulsions and bans on debate.

He imposes candidates on local parties, and shows total indifference to the local standing of the candidates he blocks: another popular then Labour mayor, Jamie Driscoll, was barred from the shortlist for his own enlarged mayoralty when Labour were still in opposition.

…

Continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/blocking-burnham-starmers-cowardly-control-freaks-are-wrecking-their-own-party

Continue ReadingBlocking Burnham, Starmer’s cowardly control-freaks are wrecking their own party