In a new interview with Sky’sBeth Rigby, Keir Starmer has said he wants Andy Burnham to “have a big role in government” if he wins the Makerfield by-election. What Starmer means is he wants Burnham to be a top level minister. The irony is Burnham will likely be the highest level minister possible – i.e. the prime minister:

BREAKING: Keir Starmer says he wants Andy Burnham to have a “big role in Government” if he wins the Makerfield by-election

— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) June 17, 2026

Burnham returns

Beth Rigby has described her interview with Starmer as “deeply personal”. It’s unclear what personal stuff they got into, as everything she’s highlighted so far was a work thing.

It’s also unclear why we should care about him personally. We’re not employing him to be a person; we’re employing him to be the prime minister. If a colleague at your work repeatedly f*cked everything up, the last thing you’d want to hear about was how the endless mistakes were making them feel.

Here’s what Rigby highlighted anyway:

He wants Andy Burnham back in cabinet – to “have a big role in government”
He says he will talk to Burnham “after the weekend”
“I don’t feel angry. I don’t feel bitter” Starmer says, on the leadership crisis he’s facing
Starmer says under no circumstances will he walk away, “I’m going to fight”
Acknowledges he may not lead Labour into the next election, “We need to turn things around. I think that is obvious from the May elections”
On his biggest regret in government, “none of us get every decision right”

“After the weekend” is interesting given that the by-election is on Thursday. Presumably this means Burnham will be busy for a few days (and we expect he will be, because he’ll be plotting to bring down Starmer).

The acknowledgement that he “may not lead Labour into the next election” is interesting given his expressed intent to fight off Burnham. If he can read the writing on the wall, why not just go now?

Of course, he could be saying this because Burnham might not win in Makerfield. And should that happen, Starmer may be able to fend off Wes Streeting and stumble on for a few more years. And that really is the most optimistic scenario for him.

Musical chairs

Regarding Burnham potentially returning to the cabinet, Dan Hodges had this to say:

If Keir Starmer is going to offer Andy Burnham a “big role” in his cabinet, which of his existing senior ministers is he prepared to sacrifice in order to try and save himself.

If Burnham returns to parliament only to fall in line behind Starmer, the question shouldn’t be ‘who gets the sack?‘; it should be ‘who even wants to remain in this dysfunctional Labour government?‘. It probably won’t be, obviously, because the sycophants Starmer has surrounded himself would endure any level of humiliation to retain their grip on power.

Featured image via the Canary

By Willem Moore

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