So the political world was ablaze with the idea that Andy Burnham could win a by-election and replace Starmer as leader of the Labour Party, and thereby Prime Minister. But it was sadly always just wishful thinking from Labour members despairing at Starmer’s continued destruction of their party – because the dream lasted just a matter of hours.
The plan for Burnham that never was
The plan was supposed to go something like this.
Andrew Gwynne has finally had his pension approved by the Commons authorities. This means he can retire at 51 on health grounds. Burnham runs as MP in the Gorton and Denton by-election (not “bi-election”, social media folks). Then the King of the North throws his hat in the ring for Labour leader, becomes PM, and rescues the Labour Party.
But it was nevergoing to happen. One, they were never going to let him. Two, Labour is beyond rescue by anyone, whether Andy Burnham, David Miliband or Ethan Hunt. I have inside knowledge of what it’s like for a sitting Mayor to be blocked from running for election by the NEC.
First of all, I’ll declare an interest. I know Andy well. He is a very capable politician on many levels.
He is charismatic and relatable, something Labour desperately need since their votes are being carved up by Nigel Farage and Zack Polanski. Having alienated progressives by chasing Reform, and alienating xenophobes because haters gonna hate, Labour’s sole remaining electoral asset is the warmth and charisma of Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer. So it’s hardly surprising that lots of MPs in previously safe Labour seats are looking at the polls and want Andy B to come and save their jobs.
He’s competent. I’ve seen him at work, he’s always focussed on getting stuff done.
He’s a decent guy. The first event we did together in person was at a National Infrastructure conference in July 2019. He said hello to me, and then turned to Rachel, my staff member, and asked her about herself and her journey down. It’s rare that senior politicians deign to talk to anyone not of their rank.
This was never going to happen
When Labour blocked me from standing again as Mayor, he went into bat for me. Although at this point there was already open war between him and Morgan McSweeney. On Times Radio In May 2023 Burnham called for the Labour Together clique to stop the negative briefings. One well placed source told me, “Jamie, the only person they hate more than you is Andy Burnham.”
The Labour Party apparatus has been captured by a well-funded and utterly corrupt faction. It is meticulously documented in Paul Holden’s The Fraud.
If you were Keir Starmer, would you have let Andy Burnham back into the Parliamentary Party, knowing he wants to dethrone you? Of course not. Since Starmer is man of zero integrity who lied in his ten pledges and took £100k+ in freebies, fair play does not cross his mind.
But Starmer is a dead PM walking. The only thing stopping a Streeting coup today is they want Starmer to take the fall for the impending Labour wipeout in Scotland, Wales and every English metropolis in May’s local and national elections. If you were Streeting would you want Andy Burnham ruining your coronation? Labour will be wiped out in 2029. This is Streeting’s one and only shot at PM.
The Guardian’s Jessica Elgot wrote that to run in the by-election Burnham “would first have to stand down as mayor of Greater Manchester.” This is not true. If he had have been successfully elected as an MP, then, and only then, would he have had to stand down as Mayor of Grater Manchester. This is because the role also includes Police and Crime Commissioner powers. This is made abundantly clear on the Electoral Commission website. As an aside, Elgot spoke of the “moderate” Labour forces against him. There is nothing moderate about the Starmtroopers. They are pursing Thatcherite policies and supporting war criminals.
Everything against Burnham
There’s precedent. Sitting Labour Mayor for West of England Dan Norris ran as an MP in the July 24 general election. That was before he was arrested for child pornography, child abduction, and rape. He has still not come to trial. But, as Starmer said when he blocked me, but before he appointed Jeffrey Epstein’s best mate Peter Mandelson as ambassador to Washington, “we only want candidates of the highest calibre.”
Burnham would have needed approval from Labour’s NEC. The NEC is chaired by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood. This week she unveiled aspirations to have “the eyes of the state” on everyone, all the time, and use AI to identify criminals before they had committed crimes. I kid you not. Does that sound like someone who would balk at undemocratic manoeuvres?
Ellie Reeves, Rachel Reeves’s sister is on the NEC. The delightful Luke Akehurst, too. And all it took was a three-person selection committee to rule him out. Plus, Andy shared many panels with me, who once shared panel with Ken Loach, who once stood next to a bloke in a queue who was ambivalent about supporting Israel. That’s enough to block him.
The mechanism could have been to be to mandate an All Women Shortlist. At a quick count in Greater Manchester there are 14 male and 9 female Labour MPs. Nationally it’s 217 men to 187 women. Although with suspensions, it’s hard to keep up with who is a Labour MP these days.
The justification could have been, “we don’t need the distraction of a leadership election.” Given they are summarily cancelling public elections all over the place, they would cancel every election everywhere, if they could.
Spineless from Labour
In the end, the excuse was, as BBC News reported:
Labour said the party had decided to deny him permission to stand to “avoid an unnecessary mayoral election, which would use substantial amounts of taxpayers’ money and resources”.
If you believe that, you’ll believe anything.
But suppose by some miracle Andy had got elected, and won the subsequent leadership election. What would he have inherited?
Reeves, Streeting, Mahmood would have been sniping and organising from the back benches. A deeply entrenched, utterly shameless, well-funded opposition would rather burn down their own party than let Burnham win a General Election. They did it to Jeremy Corbyn. They would have done it to Andy Burnham.
Will Burnham would have been able to turn Labour around? He’s head and shoulders above anyone else there in terms of ability. But when all the new wave of careerists elected in 2024 looked at the polls and contemplated their career chances, he would have got no loyalty.
Despite Starmer’s ineptitude, the underlying reason for Labour’s unpopularity is Labour policy. Just as it was Tory policy finished May, Johnson, Truss and Sunak. And who would Andy have had in his corner with the ability and drive to implement practical socialist policies?
Burnham could just… join the Greens?
I was asked if Andy won would I go back to Labour. Not a chance in hell. Call it neoliberalism, call it Thatcherism, the fact is that only by standing up to wealth extraction from very rich people can the lives of millions of Britons be turned around. And the Labour Party has been infiltrated by lobbyists and donors’ interests.
Starmer is finished. Streeting is waiting to be anointed after May. But however they play this, blocking Andy Burnham will drive another nail in their collective centrist coffin. The remaining Labour members hanging on for a return to social democracy have now seen their hopes dashed, and they’ll leave too.
Now Andy is blocked, I’m going to send him a cheeky text inviting him to join the Green Party. I’ve been a member for a month now, and I’ve found nothing but good people wanting to get on with the job. That’s where hope is.
Featured image via the Canary
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