Andy Burnham’s popularity and success as Labour Mayor of Manchester seem to be rattling Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Recent reports have suggested the PM and his allies are working to prevent his potential rival from securing a seat in the House of Commons.

This news comes with an imminent by-election following Labour MP Andrew Gywnne stepping down in Gorton and Denton. According to Politics Home, Labour’s national executive committee (NEC) are insisting on an all-BAME shortlist which would disqualify Burnham from becoming a candidate.

NEW: Allies of Keir Starmer say Andy Burnham will not be allowed to stand – and one well-placed source suggests an all-BAME shortlist could be used:https://t.co/yHn7t9XCOS

— Sienna Rodgers (@siennamarla) January 22, 2026

Scared of a little competition, Keir?

This move reveals a palpable anxiety among Labour government officials about the safety of Starmer’s premiership. The Labour Party appear to be fixing the odds by setting candidacy conditions that automatically exempt the Manchester Mayor from being able to take part. This comes as increasing calls are made for Burnham to challenge Starmer for leadership. However without a seat as an MP that would be impossible. Gwynne’s retreat after shameful leaked conversations has finally paved a route to make that bid possible, delighting his supporters.

You’d have to be living under a stone to not be aware of the factional infighting within the UK’s ‘party of the working class’, with many in the party feeling the party has lost its way.

We wrote back in 2021 as the purge was in full force:

The Canary has been documenting the ongoing Labour Party machinery’s purge of left-wing members. It’s involved the party stopping Constituency Labour Parties (CLP) debating certain motions; suspending prominent left-wing members; refusing to endorse long-standing left-wing councillors for re-election; the removal of the whip from ex-leader Jeremy Corbyn, and more recently proscribing four left-wing groups which resulted in the party expelling film director Ken Loach and attempting to boot out a senior Jewish member, Graham Bash.

Those toxic practices are evidently still at play as we see clear intentions to sabotage Burnham’s chances.

According to Politics Home, one ‘anti-Burnham’ Labour MP said:

The idea you can bully the Labour Party machine into spending money we don’t have, spending time we don’t have and taking a risk we don’t want to take, to allow someone a shot at pushing the PM out of the window? It doesn’t make any sense at all.

Labour peer Baroness Lister expressed her dismay at lessons clearly being ignored by leadership, as Politics Home reported:

Labour peer Baroness Lister, who was a member of the Forde inquiry panel that was commissioned by Starmer and looked into factionalism within the party, criticised briefings suggesting Burnham could be blocked.

She told PoliticsHome: “Anonymous and divisive briefings from the NEC today suggest that little has been learnt from the Forde Report on party culture that I was part of producing.

“In a by-election in Gorton and Denton, party members – and local people – must be afforded the opportunity to select and elect the strongest possible Labour candidate.”

Fight the far-right, not the left

However, Burnham has yet to even suggest that he is interested in the seat. This briefing and forward-planning just highlights his significant chance of victory to win the vacant seat. This is especially so given he is the sitting Mayor of the region, receiving considerable popular support following his track record. Local people trust him, that can’t be undervalued. Given the race is reportedly neck and neck between Labour and Reform, the priority should be challenging the far right at the ballot box.

Unless, of course, Starmer is more interested in clinging to power than in defending the country from a far-right threat.

Using the underrepresentation of minorities as a factional weapon to stop a candidate from standing is just gutter behaviour. https://t.co/XaQUZDLtWX

— Owen Jones (@owenjonesjourno) January 23, 2026

Burnham isn’t alone and has a lot of support within the Labour movement. Well-known and established socialist Labour MP’s have spoken out repeatedly about the party’s swing to the right. They have each sought to confront the government’s policy platform which has been seen to favour the richest in society. All whilst failing to effectively address any of the real issues facing society.

Labour MP Clive Lewis recently celebrated Burnham’s success and has regularly challenged the government to take radical policy decisions:

Bang on.

The assumption of a stable, cheap, rules-based world is over.

The answer isn’t tweaks or workarounds.

It’s democratic control of essential systems.
Local power. Costs driven down at source, not endlessly patched over.

Public control where it actually matters. pic.twitter.com/6WMixme4n5

— Clive Lewis MP (@labourlewis) January 22, 2026

Keep the far-right out, let the shit PM feel some competition

Starmer needs a bit of healthy competition, now more than ever. Burnham’s vibrant, principled candidacy might just be the ticket to Labour moving back over to the left.

The systemic purge of socialists might have brought some comfort to the Labour right, but in turn, it has made the party entirely redundant. Instead, we see the UK PM try to become more like Farage and co in terms of rhetoric and policy. Yet again, this just shows that government ministers have no real vision or value to what they can offer to the British public.

Northern towns face the biggest threat from the far-right, as communities have been let down for decades.

It’s a no-brainer that Labour members need to demand selection of the best possible candidates. End of.

Featured image via the Canary

By Maddison Wheeldon

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