Andy Burnham

“Wrong in numerous important respects”: What PR firm privately told Josh Simons

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dizzy: Josh Simons was the MP for Makerfield who gave it up so that Andy Burnham could contest it. Makerfield was considered a safe [ed: Labour] seat and awarded to Simmons as payback for his work as director, following Morgan McSweeney, of the Labour Together group. Labour Together – since rebranded as ThinkLabour – employed dishonest and evil tactics to have Keir Starmer installed as leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister. Having been handed the seat of Makersfield, Andy Burnham is able to contest the leadership of the Labour Party. The cynical might regard it as a convenient stitch-up [ed: stitched-up, manipulated part of a larger plan]. I expect no meaningful change.

https://democracyforsale.substack.com/p/wrong-in-numerous-important-respects-josh-simons-apco-legal-letter

Revealed: APCO legal letter warned Simons to cease making “misleading statements” about PR firm’s “incredibly useful” dossier on journalists investigating Labour Together.

By Peter Geoghegan and Khadija Sharife

Josh Simons has had a good couple of weeks. The former Cabinet Office minister – forced to resign over his role in hiring a PR firm to investigate journalists critical of Labour Together – is now being praised for standing aside as Makerfield MP to clear the path for Andy Burnham.

Simons is reportedly “across everything” in Burnham’s campaign and is hotly tipped for a top role in any future administration led by the Greater Manchester Mayor. There’s even talk of a seat in the House of Lords.

But not everyone is so enamoured with Simons.

Democracy for Sale can report that days after Simons resigned from the Cabinet Office – following revelations in this newsletter – he received a legal letter on behalf of the PR firm he had paid more than £30,000 to investigate journalists reporting on Labour Together’s undeclared political donations.

In the lawyer’s letter, reported here for the first time and reproduced below, APCO Worldwide privately accused Simons of making “misleading statements” about his role in the scandal and of changing his story in ways that were “wrong in numerous important respects” – and even of suggesting APCO could do more work for Labour Together.

…

APCO did not just dispute Simons’ February 11 statement. His version of events, it said, had “evolved” in the two weeks before his resignation – in ways that were “inconsistent with the facts”.

In his resignation letter to Keir Starmer on February 28, Simons said he “did not know” that the Sunday Times’s Harry Yorke and Henry Dyer of the Guardian had been targeted by APCO, and that once he saw the “reprehensible material” about Pogrund “I took immediate action and removed it.”

APCO flatly rejected this. “No such indication was given to APCO. You did not raise a complaint or objection to the work product delivered. On the contrary, you described it as ‘incredibly useful’ and stated a desire to continue to work with APCO. Your statement ‘What happened subsequently was wrong’ in your resignation letter is inconsistent with your statements to APCO and actions at the time.”

…

Recommended: See the original article at https://democracyforsale.substack.com/p/wrong-in-numerous-important-respects-josh-simons-apco-legal-letter

SUBSTACK: DEMOCRACY FOR SALE

‘Labour Together broke the law’

Labour Together PR firm tried to destroy crucial evidence

BREAKING: Starmer’s inner circle knew about APCO’s Labour Together investigation

Revealed: Government accused of ‘conflict of interest’ over journalist smear inquiry

McSweeney goes – but ​​Josh Simons in the frame over targeting journalists

Continue Reading“Wrong in numerous important respects”: What PR firm privately told Josh Simons

Only the Green Party commits to Makerfield public ownership pledges

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https://www.thecanary.co/uk/news/2026/06/16/public-ownership-makerfield/

Composite image of Restore, Labour, Reform and Green candidates for Makerfield by-election in front of a Bee Network bus. Illustrating questions of candidates on public ownership

Only the Green Party has responded to a Makerfield public ownership pledge launched today, explaining which local public services they would take back if elected. Andy Burnham has not clarified his position, despite his critique of privatisation in recent weeks.

Campaign group We Own It asked the six main Makerfield candidates for their positions on public ownership of water, energy and buses, as well as a local BlackRock deal with Greater Manchester Pension Fund to buy up GP surgeries.

Nearly 10,000 emails have been sent to the candidates over the weekend to put pressure on them to reveal their policies. This follows on from a previous letter seeking candidates’ views on support for Palestinian people.

The campaigners point out that in 2025 United Utilities dumped sewage into waterways in Makerfield for over 3,000 hours. The electricity distribution company Electricity North West is rated only 1.9 on Trustpilot and has slowed down grid connections.

In 2025 the local gas distribution company Cadent Gas paid out £38 per household in dividends to its shareholders. These include Australian asset management firm Macquarie and the Chinese sovereign wealth fund.

Cat Hobbs, director of We Own It, said:

It’s really shocking that Andy Burnham has spent the last few weeks attacking 40 years of Thatcherite privatisation but won’t take a clear position on the local water and energy companies ripping off the people of Makerfield.

Voters deserve to know if he will stand up for them or for a handful of shareholders around the world. Keir Starmer promised public ownership and then betrayed voters. Burnham can’t fool us twice.

Water and energy are profitable assets with a revenue stream so it’s a great deal for the public purse to bring them into public hands. United Utilities and the North West energy grid are monopolies – there is no market. So we need accountability as citizens, and profits reinvested instead of leaking out.

Article continues at https://www.thecanary.co/uk/news/2026/06/16/public-ownership-makerfield/

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Continue ReadingOnly the Green Party commits to Makerfield public ownership pledges

Burnham’s popularity wanes as by-election nears, polls find

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/burnhams-popularity-wanes-election-nears-polls-find

 Andy Burnham makes a speech surrounded by supporters at the launch of his campaign as Labour’s candidate for the Makerfield by-election in Ashton-in-Makerfield, Greater Manchester, May 22, 2026

ANDY BURNHAM’S popularity is on the slide with the public, according to two different opinion polls.

In the week that Makerfield is poised to send the Manchester Mayor back to the Commons with a platform to challenge Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer for the premiership, Mr Burnham’s previously positive ratings have turned sour.

YouGov, which previously made him the only politician in the country with a net favourability rating, now has him down 11 per cent, with 30 per cent of the public liking him against 41 per cent negative.

An Ipsos poll had similar findings, although both surveys still make Mr Burnham less unpopular than any other politician and notably more popular than potential leadership rival Wes Streeting.

Since starting his by-election campaign in Makerfield, which votes on Thursday, Mr Burnham has flip-flopped on a range of policy issues, from the bond market to justice for the Waspi women.

Leading figures on the Labour left are also privately expressing doubts and warning that, if Mr Burnham does ascend to Downing Street, continuing pressure will be needed to ensure he steers a different course than Sir Keir.

…

Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/burnhams-popularity-wanes-election-nears-polls-find

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Continue ReadingBurnham’s popularity wanes as by-election nears, polls find

I refuse to endorse a shit for Makerfield election

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And my endorsement is instead for Raving Loony Party candidate Alan “Howlin” Laud Hope.

Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel's genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism "without qualification". Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
Nigel Farage 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.
Nigel Farage 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.
Vote Labour for Genocide.
Vote Labour for Genocide.

ed: It’s even coming from usually respected sources. I’m not doing Labourism – the idea that Labour is better despite all it’s flaws than anything else. No, Labour supports and is complicit in genocide and has instrumented – what is the appropriate word? done? what they’ve done is directed the state’s monopoly of the law in Fascist support for Neo-Fascist genocidal Israel. Despite other left commentators proposing support for the Labour candidate Andy Burnham, from here the message is “No Parasan” – opposition to Fascists under all circumstances.

From my perspective, so what if Reform gets elected instead of Reform in a Red rosette?

14/6/26 4.10pm ed: I regret not promoting this position earlier but that’s life. Should Burnham not make it and doesn’t contest the Labour leadership as a consequence, so what? Should he get elected Labour leader it will be the same with no meaningful change. He’s a reliable Labour party politician.

Continue ReadingI refuse to endorse a shit for Makerfield election

Andy Burnham Declines to Call Israel’s Mass Killings in Gaza a Genocide

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https://novaramedia.com/2026/06/05/andy-burnham-declines-to-call-israels-mass-killings-in-gaza-a-genocide/

Temilade Adelaja/Reuters

‘I can’t judge things of that enormity.’

Labour leadership hopeful Andy Burnham has refused to call the Israeli military’s actions in Gaza a genocide.

Asked about the violence in an interview with the Guardian, he said: “I can’t judge things of that enormity from where I am as mayor of Greater Manchester.”

He added: “But I do have concerns about the disproportionate nature of what has happened in terms of the destruction, and there has to be a full process of investigation and accountability.”

The world-leading International Association of Genocide Scholars last year declared that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

​Israel has killed at least 72,000 Palestinians there since 7 October 2023 and experts  quoted by the BMJ say the actual toll is far higher.

Burnham became a member of Labour Friends of Israel in 2015 and during a Labour leadership bid the same year described the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel as “spiteful”.

He also promised to make Israel his first state visit if he won – calling the country a “democracy that has a long history of protecting minorities and promoting civil rights”.

…

https://novaramedia.com/2026/06/05/andy-burnham-declines-to-call-israels-mass-killings-in-gaza-a-genocide/

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.
Vote Labour for Genocide.
Vote Labour for Genocide.
Continue ReadingAndy Burnham Declines to Call Israel’s Mass Killings in Gaza a Genocide