In the latest war of words between Andy Burnham and Keir Starmer, the Manchester mayor has claimed he received zero support from Labour:
NEW: Andy Burnham has accused the Labour Party of never supporting him during his Greater Manchester Mayor campaign
“I’ve never had any support from the party in the three mayoral elections… so the Greater Manchester mayoral election has never been a great expense”
— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) January 29, 2026
And predictably, the words have continued to war since he said it.
North v South – Burnham v Starmer
Burnham was on BBC Radio Manchester to talk about his spurned request to stand in Gorton and Denton:
I believed I was probably in a better position than anybody to fight back against [Reform], and that’s why I put myself forward to them. Because I think if we’d have that by-election, and we still might do and I’ll be out there campaigning for Labour in that by-election.
“If I’d have won it I think we could have pushed them back. I think Reform can be pushed back because they’ve brought in all these Tories. They look like the worst of the Tory Party to me and I think we could have beaten them and beaten them well, and that would have pushed them right back.
Labour claimed they didn’t want Burnham to stand because forcing a mayoral election would hurt them in the pocket. Now, Burnham has said:
I would have pointed out to them I’ve never had any support from the party in the three mayoral elections I’ve fought, so the Greater Manchester mayoral election has never been a great expense. I’ve never had support in fighting it.
Shots fired.
And pretty much immediately, an unnamed Labour MP shot back:
Labour MP hits back at Andy Burnham’s claim the party has never supported him in his 3 mayoral election campaigns.
"Go and tell that to the thousands of activists who went knocking on doors and leafleting to get him elected."https://t.co/Ic44OPAe4w
— Kevin Schofield (@KevinASchofield) January 29, 2026
What is it with modern politicians being too afraid to put their name on the record?
It feels like some of these people are going to be buried in unmarked graves the way they avoid identifying themselves (we should clarify this is an observation rather than a threat).
Back to the actual point, Burnham said he had no support from the ‘party’; not no support from the ‘membership’. The mysterious Labour MP knows this, of course, but the job of a modern politician is to pretend not to understand things. Look at this one acting like he can’t comprehend why people are mad at Labour’s leasehold u-turn:
Pinto-Duschinsky getting absolutely obliterated in the replies. Labour promised to abolish leaseholds, now they’re having closed-door meetings with those profiting from this exploitation whilst cutting out the victims. Another Labour MP without integrity desperately deflecting. https://t.co/WF8ppJDLdZ
— Duke
(@Mg1701E) January 10, 2026
The (Labour) Party’s over
Burnham also had more to say about what’s gone down with Starmer:
NEW: Andy Burnham reignites war of words with No10
Says Labour’s never supported his mayoral election campaigns
— Kevin Schofield (@KevinASchofield) January 29, 2026
If Labour loses the Gorton and Denton byelection, Starmer is going to have some serious questions to answer (by which we mean ‘serious questions to awkwardly avoid answering’, obviously).
Featured image via Joel Stein (Flickr)
By Willem Moore
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