Blocking Burnham, Starmer’s 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, 2024IT’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.
…
Zack Polanski responds to Andy Burnham being blocked from standing in upcoming by-election
Responding to the news that the Labour Party have blocked Andy Burnham from standing in the upcoming by-election in Gorton and Denton, Zack Polanski said,
“I’ve said for many months now that we’re not here to be disappointed with Labour, but to replace them. As days pass and Labour seemingly finds new ways to disappoint people, I remain focused on growing the Green Party. At the upcoming by-election in Gorton and Denton, it’s become clear that the Greens are the only progressive party capable of taking on and beating Reform. We already have activists on the ground, and we welcome any friends in Labour to support our campaign to keep Reform out of Manchester’s politics. Let’s go!”
Andy Burnham Seen As Better Prime Minister Than Other Potential Labour Leadership Candidates
Andy Burnham leads the pack of potential future replacements for Prime Minister Keir Starmer in new Savanta polling of British voters about leadership qualities, The House can exclusively reveal.
While there is currently no vacancy either in the Labour leadership or 10 Downing Street, Labour insiders have speculated that a battle for the top job could come sooner rather than later, given the challenges faced by Starmer and his government.
Leadership candidates must be sitting MPs, which Greater Manchester mayor Burnham is not. But his return to the parliamentary party via a by-election has been floated as a possibility by allies, and he has not denied that he could seek a Westminster seat.
Angela Rayner was tipped to be Starmer’s most likely successor before she resigned as deputy leader and deputy prime minister. She now sits on the backbenches.
…
Article continues at https://www.politicshome.com/news/article/andy-burnham-leads-potential-keir-starmer-replacements-poll-shows